Vegetable Oil or Animal Fat Oil, Which is More Conducive to Cardiovascular Health Among the Elderly in China?

Our present study aimed to investigate the relationship between cooking oil types and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and to reveal which cooking oil is more beneficial to cardiovascular health in older Chinese. This study relies on cross-section data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in the 2018 wave. A total of 15,874 elderly Chinese over 65 years old were included in our analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between cooking oil types and ASCVD. Of the 15,874 elderly people, 13,709 cooked with vegetable/gingili oil, with an average age [SD] of 84.47 [11.51] years; 1533 cooked with lard/other animal fat oils, with an average age [SD] of 85.90 [11.72] years. 3918 of those who cooked with vegetable/gingili oil had ASCVD, and 249 of those who cooked with lard/other animal fat oils had ASCVD. The prevalence of ASCVD in vegetable/gingili oil users (31.68%) was higher than that in lard/other animal fat oil users (17.46%). Compared with lard/other animal fat users, the multivariate-adjusted model indicated that vegetable oil/sesame oil users were significantly associated with a higher risk of ASCVD (OR = 2.19; 95%CI, 1.90-2.53). Our study found that cooking with lard/other animal fat oil is more beneficial to cardiovascular health in older Chinese. Dietary guidelines should seriously consider the health effects of substituting vegetable/gingili oil for lard/other animal fat oil for different populations.