Dietary habits, fat consumption pattern and blood lipid profile of adults engaged in moderate activity

Abstract

The study entitled “Dietary habits, fat consumption pattern and blood lipid profile of adults engaged in moderate activity” is an attempt to assess the food and fat consumption pattern of selected moderately active adult males in relation to their blood lipid profile.

Fifty adult male employees, between the age of 25-40 years, doing moderate activity for the past 8-10 years were selected for the study. Socio economic back ground of the families revealed that majority of them were Hindus, belonging to extended type of families. All the respondents were moderately educated, and in addition, some of them also possessed technical qualification essential for their job.

The personal monthly income of the respondents were in the range of Rs.3000-4000. In addition to this, income earned by different family members, and income from agriculture also contributed to the total family income.

Anthropometric measurements of the subjects revealed that the mean height and weight of the subjects were above the ideal height and weight suggested for a reference man by ICMR. Body Mass Index(BMI) of all the respondents were found to be below 25 which indicated that none were obese.

Majority of the respondents were non smokers, and only a very small per cent were found to use alcohol daily. Few of the respondents also had the habit of taking exercise regularly to keep them physically fit.

All the respondents were consuming two major meals from the factory canteen. The dietary survey revealed that ninety eight percent were habitual non vegetarians. The food served in the factory canteen was found to be an affluent one characterized by energy rich foods, comprising of fats and refined sugars. The consumption of pulses, leafy vegetables, other vegetables, milk and products far exceeded the RDA, where as the energy intake was 30.6 percent above RDA. The consumption of fish was found to be high among the respondents.

Coconut oil was the chief used in cooking in the factory canteen as well as in 92 percent of the families. The per capita availability of oil in the house hold showed a wide variation ranging from 13.5 – 56g. The average invisible fat intake of respondents were 56g, which was higher than the average visible fat intake, of 45g/day.

Compared with recommended daily allowance, higher energy intake was noticed in majority of the respondents, indicating that they are in a positive energy balance.

Analysis of the lipid profile revealed that 20 percent had serum cholesterol levels above 240 mg/dl, where as LDL cholesterol level was found beyond 150 mg/dl only in 73 percent. HDL – cholesterol, which has a protective effect, was found beyond 55mg/dl only in 7 percent. All persons except one had the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio more than 5, which shows that they are at CVD risk in future.

Personal habits showed a significant association with the blood lipid profile of the subjects. The non vegetarian food habits also showed a significant positive association with blood cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.

Assessment of the food and nutrient in take of the subjects showed that protein content of the diet was mainly contributed by the consumption of fish and egg, while the coconut kernel supplied the invisible fat content of the diet.

A significant positive association was observed between the percent of energy supplied from invisible fat and the triglyceride and VLDL cholesterol levels.

From the above findings it was revealed that the blood lipid profile in terms of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and the ratio between the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol of the subject was found to be affected by food and fat consumption (especially the invisible fat) and personal habits of the respondents. All these lipid fractions and the ratio, exhibited an increasing tendency, with the existing dietary and fat consumption pattern and personal habits of the respondents, which could be indicative of a tendency for independing cardiovascular disease risk.