Dietary cooking oils and cardiometabolic measurements in an elderly Chinese population

To investigate three features of dietary cooking oil intake, namely, the consumption, cooking style, and composition of fatty acids in relation to several cardiometabolic measurements in an elderly Chinese population.

The elderly (≥ 65 years) participants for this study were recruited from two community health centers in the urban area of Shanghai. A questionnaire was administered to collect information on dietary oil consumption (low, medium and high) and cooking styles (fry or stir-fry vs. others) and the composition of fatty acids (poly-unsaturated vs. mono-unsaturated). The cardiometabolic measurements included anthropometry, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and serum lipids.

The 1186 study participants had a mean age of 70.9 ± 5.4 years. The mean dietary oil consumption was 35.0 g/d, being low (< 25 g/d), medium (25-49 g/d) and high (≥ 50 g/d) in 485,467 and 234 participants, respectively. The proportion of the fry or stir-fry cooking style and oils rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids was 30.4% and 27.4%, respectively. Both before and after adjustment for sex, age, current smoking and alcohol intake, dietary oil consumption was significantly (P ≤ 0.02) and positively associated with the prevalence of treated hypertension and fasting plasma glucose concentration. With similar adjustments as above and additional adjustment for dietary oil consumption, the fry or stir-fry cooking style was significantly (P ≤ 0.048) and positively associated with body mass index, but inversely with systolic and diastolic blood pressure and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and the dietary intake of oils rich in mono-unsaturated fat acids was significantly (P ≤ 0.02) and positively associated with diastolic blood pressure, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia.

This study showed that both the consumption and composition of fatty acids of the dietary oils mattered with regard to several cardiometabolic measurements in an elderly Chinese population.