Dietary habits of gallstone patients in Northern India

Dietary intake and plasma lipids were estimated in 200 patients with gallstones and 98 control subjects from a hospital in Northern India and were matched for age, sex, and social class. The intake of total calories and carbohydrates and the plasma triglyceride values were higher in all gallstone patients as compared with controls (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). The dietary intake of refined carbohydrates was higher than in controls, but only in the female patients with gallstones (35.6 +/- 32.9 g/day compared with 24.5 +/- 11.8 g/day; p < 0.001). By contrast, the male patients with gallstones had an increased intake of fat (patients 79.0 +/- 38.1 g/day vs. controls 60.2 +/- 24.3 g/day; p < 0.05) and had increased plasma cholesterol values (patients 166.4 +/- 54.2 mg/dl vs. controls 140.3 +/- 32.8 mg/dl; p < 0.01). Such sex differences in the dietary intake and plasma lipid values may form a special feature of gallstone disease in Northern India and should be studied further.