Serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels were determined using commercial assay kits (#E1005 and #E1018, respectively, from Applygen, Beijing, China). Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) analysis of plasma lipoproteins was performed as described (Guo et al, 2018 (link)). Briefly, pooled plasma aliquots (200 μl from each group) were applied to Tricorn high‐performance Superose S‐6 10/300GL columns and filtered using an Amersham FPLC system (GE Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA), followed by elution with PBS at a constant flow rate of 0.25 ml/min. Eluted fractions (500 μl per fraction) were assessed for cholesterol concentrations using enzymatic assay (Guo et al, 2018 (link)). FPLC was carried out in an investigator‐blind manner.