Nutritional Profile of a Selected Urban South Indian Population and Its Association with Various Components of the Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

It is increasingly recognised that developing countries are undergoing an epidemiologic transition similar to that, which occurred in industrialised countries in previous centuries. One facet of the epidemiological transition occurring in India, is the nutritional transition that accompanies development and urbanization. The nutritional transition is marked by a shift away from traditional fibre rich diets towards an industrialized diet that is usually more varied, includes more preprocessed food, and is rich in fat and calories, but often poor in fibre. This is accompanied by shift in the type of occupations, with reduced physical activity, which leads to a rapid increase in the numbers of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease, collectively called as insulin resistance syndrome. There are very few studies, which have assessed the association of diet with the components of insulin resistance syndrome in Indian population and virtually none related to the effect of socioeconomic factors with diet and components of insulin resistance syndrome. The summary of the conclusions of this study are as follows: The nutritional profile of a total of 1166 subjects, 763 - belonging to low-income group and 403 belonging to the middle income group was studied. The mean age of the population was 42 ± 14 years. The mean calorie intake was 1758 ± 544 and the visible fat intake was 24.6 ± 12.5 gm/day. The results of the dietary intake was compared to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of the ICMR. It was found that the visible fat (24.6 vs 20 gm/day) intake was higher while the consumption of all other foods was lower than RDA. In conclusion marked intra urban differences in the dietary pattern are observed in this urban south Indian population and this seems to contribute and correlate with the marked increase in the metabolic syndrome in the middle income group. Increased visible fat consumption seems to be associated which can increase most of the components of the metabolicsyndrome.