Objective: To identify the association between food group consumption frequency and serum lipoprotein levels among adults.
Methods: The observations were made during a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of men and women over 20 years old living in Cotia county, S. Paulo, Brazil. Data on food frequency consumption, serum lipids, and other covariates were available for 1, 045 adults. Multivariate analyses adjusted by age, gender, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, educational level, family income, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption were performed.
Results: Consumption of processed meat, chicken, red meat, eggs and dairy foods were each positively and significantly correlated with LDL-C, whereas the intake of vegetables and fruits showed an inverse correlation. Daily consumption of processed meat, chicken, red meat, eggs, and dairy foods were associated with 16.6 mg/dl, 14.5 mg/dl, 11.1 mg/dl, 5.8 mg/dl, and 4.6 mg/dl increase in blood LDL-C, respectively. Increases of daily consumption of fruit and vegetables were associated with 5.2 mg/dl and 5.5 mg/dl decreases in LDL-C, respectively. Alcohol beverage consumption showed a significant positive correlation with HDL-C.
Conclusions: Dietary habits in the study population seem to contribute substantially to the variation in blood LDL and HDL concentrations. Substantially CHD risk reduction could be achieved with dietary changes.