Relationship between dietary intake, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins in Taipei and Framingham

Abstract

To determine whether the lower rates of heart disease in Taiwan than in the United States could be related to associations between plasma lipoproteins and dietary intake, we assessed these indexes in 423 adults in Taipei matched with 420 adults in Framingham, MA. Concentrations of LDL cholesterol were 14% lower, HDL cholesterol 9% higher, and LDL cholesterol: HDL cholesterol 27% lower in Taipei than in Framingham. Dietary intakes of total fat (34%), saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol (338 mg) were, respectively, 16%, 41%, and 19% lower in Taipei men, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acid intake was 89% higher than in Framingham men. Similar differences were seen for women except for total fat and cholesterol intakes, which were similar. From stepwise analyses of all subjects, we observed significant associations of lower LDL cholesterol: HDL cholesterol with higher polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes and lower body mass indexes in both men and women. Our data indicate that the more favorable lipoprotein profiles observed in Taipei subjects may be partly due to differences in type of dietary fat consumption as well as in body mass index.

Hypertension and stroke in Asia: prevalence, control and strategies in developing countries for prevention

“…The prevalence of overweight and hypertension was most common in New Zealand, Australia and Japan followed by Iran, urban India, Singapore, urban Sri Lanka and urban Philippines (Table 14). 10,16,19,20,78,[89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98] Epidemiologic studies in the eastern Mediterranean region report the prevalence of hypertension up to 30% among adults in urban areas. In one cross-sectional survey, Sarraf-Zadigan and Amininik studied 8639 men (n = 2505) and women (n = 3413) aged 19-70 years from Isfahan city (n = 7857) and surrounding rural areas (total n = 782, men = 178, women = 436).…”

Menstrual Cycle and Voluntary Food Intake in Young Chinese Women

“…For instance, in women mean intake of 115, 126, 136 and 137 kJ per kg body weight was reported by Lyu et al (1994), Martini et al (1994), Piers et al (1995) and Gong et al (1989), respectively. These estimates were lower than that obtained when the weighed records approach was adopted by other investigators (Barr et al, 1995;Fong & Kretsch, 1993).…”

Relative influence of diet and physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors in urban Chinese adults

“…This finding is in agreement with some 67,68 but not other studies. 69,70 The conflicting findings may be owing to the generally low levels of plasma LDL-C in this (99% o160 mg/ dl) and other Asian populations, 5 and the lower percentage of total fat intake from saturated fat (28%) in our subjects compared to a Western population (35% from NHANES III 6 ). Homocysteine, another risk factor for cardiovascular disease, 71 exhibited strong independent and inverse associations with plasma folate and vitamin B 12 .…”

“…It is well documented that diet and physical activity contribute to cardiovascular risk factors [3][4][5][6] and body fatness, [7][8][9][10] and that obesity itself is adversely associated with cardiovascular risk factors. 11 However, the relative influence of specific dietary components vs physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors independent of body fatness remains uncertain.…”