Dietary determinants of serum total cholesterol among middle-aged and older adults: a population-based cross-sectional study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Objective To assess the dietary determinants of serum total cholesterol. Design Cross-sectional population-based study. Setting Peri-urban region of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Participants 347 adults aged 40 years and older from the Dar es Salaam Urban Cohort Hypertension Study. Main outcome measure Serum total cholesterol measured using a point-of-care device. Results Mean serum total cholesterol level was 204 mg/dL (IQR 169–236 mg/dL) in women and 185 mg/dL (IQR 152–216 mg/dL) in men. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle and dietary factors, participants who reported using palm oil as the major cooking oil had serum total cholesterol higher by 15 mg/dL (95% CI 1 to 29 mg/dL) compared with those who reported using sunflower oil. Consumption of one or more servings of meat per day (p for trend=0.017) and less than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day (p for trend=0.024) were also associated with higher serum total cholesterol. A combination of using palm oil for cooking, eating more than one serving of meat per day and fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, was associated with 46 mg/dL (95% CI 16 to 76 mg/dL) higher serum total cholesterol. Conclusions Using palm oil for cooking was associated with higher serum total cholesterol levels in this peri-urban population in Dar es Salaam. Reduction of saturated fat content of edible oil may be considered as a population-based strategy for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

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Eating Timing and Frequency as a Predictor of Hospitalization and/or Mortality From Coronary Artery Disease: The Linked CCHS-DAD-CMDB 2004-2013 Study

“…Participants were excluded from the present analysis if they were < 18 years old, were residents of Quebec (due to a lack of corresponding hospitalization data in the DAD), had self-reported prevalent heart disease at baseline, had self-reported cancer at baseline, reported implausible energy intakes of < 500 or > 5000 kcal per day, as is a common practice in nutrition studies, 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 or did not provide consent to share their survey information with provincial and federal ministries of health and to link their responses to administrative health data. After exclusions, the final sample size was 13,328 CCHS 2.2 participants.…”