Association between dietary patterns and blood lipid profiles among Chinese women

Objective: The present study aimed to identify dietary patterns and explore their associations with blood lipid profiles among Chinese women.

Design: In a cross-sectional study, we identified dietary patterns using principal component analysis of data from three consecutive 24 h dietary recalls. The China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) collected blood samples in the morning after an overnight fast and measured total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and TAG.

Setting: Data were from the 2009 wave of the CHNS.

Subjects: We studied 2468 women aged 18-80 years from the CHNS.

Results: We identified three dietary patterns: traditional southern (high intakes of rice, pork and vegetables), snack (high intakes of fruits, eggs and cakes) and Western (high intakes of poultry, fast foods and milk). The traditional southern pattern was inversely associated with HDL-C (β=-0·68; 95 % CI -1·22, -0·14; P<0·05). The snack pattern was significantly associated with higher TAG (β=4·14; 95 % CI 0·44, 7·84; P<0·05). The Western pattern was positively associated with TC (β=2·52; 95 % CI 1·03, 4·02; P<0·01) and LDL-C (β=2·26; 95 % CI 0·86, 3·66; P<0·01).

Conclusions: We identified three dietary patterns that are significantly associated with blood lipid profiles. This information is important for developing interventions and policies addressing dyslipidaemia prevention among Chinese women.