Context: There is limited literature on the dietary fat intake of rural Indian populations, particularly in relation to the risk of metabolic syndrome (MS).
Aim: This study aims to assess the dietary fat intake and analyze its association with the risk of selected components of the MS among rural population in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Settings and design: Adults (n = 27012) ≥20 years of age were recruited from the rural component of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study, a cross-sectional study conducted in 42 villages in Kanchipuram District of Tamil Nadu.
Subjects and methods: Using a validated food frequency questionnaire, data were obtained on the fat intake among 6907 adults. Anthropometric and clinical measures were collected using standard methods. The components of the MS assessed were abdominal obesity, hypertension, and impaired fasting glucose. All analyses were performed using SPSS software (version 20).
Results: Prevalence of abdominal obesity, hypertension, and impaired fasting glucose were significantly higher in the highest quintile of fat intake (33%, P < 0.001; 39%, P = 0.04, and 23.3%, P = 0.003, respectively). Highest intake of fat was also significantly associated with risk of abdominal obesity (P < 0.001), hypertension (P = 0.04), and impaired fasting glucose (P = 0.01). Sunflower oil as the main cooking oil was significantly associated with a higher risk of these components of the MS (P for trend <0.001) compared to traditional oils and palmolein.
Conclusions: Higher dietary fat was significantly associated with risk of components of the MS and use of sunflower oil as main cooking oil increased metabolic risk in rural South Indians.
Keywords: Dietary fat; metabolic syndrome; rural South Indians; vegetable oil.