Nutrition and Lipid Profile in General Population and Vegetarian Individuals Living in Rural Bangladesh

Background: To examine the association between consumption of vegetable-based diets and lipid profile of aged vegetarians in rural Bangladesh. Methodology: Cross-sectional study was conducted in the Demographic Surveillance System (DSS) area of Mirzapur sub-district, rural Bangladesh from April to September, 2010. One hundred thirty two (66 vegetarians and 66 non-vegetarians) healthy individuals, aged 40 years or more were studied through house to house visits which had been selected randomly. Overnight fasting venous blood samples were collected for estimating Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS), serum creatinine with Serum Alanine Transaminase (ALT) and serum lipid profile. Results: The mean age of the vegetarians and non-vegetarians were 58 and 57 years respectively with normal kidney and liver function. The vegetarians had significantly lower mean serum Total Cholesterol (TC) [mean difference (95% CI)] [-0.40 (-0.74, -0.06)] and LDL [-0.47 (-0.76, -0.19)] compared to non-vegetarians. They also had lower mean levels of TC: HDL [-0.55 (-0.98, -0.13)] and LDL:HDL [-0.48 (-0.84, -0.13)]. However, triglyceride, HDL, BMI, FBS, and waist-to-hip ratio were identical. In Pearson’s correlation, consumption of vegetable diet significantly correlated with serum TC, LDL and TC: HDL and LDL:HDL ratios. In multiple regression analysis, age, dietary habit, BMI, FBS, and radial pulse had positive correlation with LDL. Instead of radial pulse, for TC: HDL ratio, sex correlated along with other factors. Whereas, for LDL: HDL ratio direct correlation was found with age, dietary habit and BMI. Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that compared to non-vegetarians, rural Bangladeshi vegetarians had better serum lipid profile.