Dietary Fats Discriminate Risk for Abdominal Obesity and Glucose Metabolism among Urban Affluent Adult Males in Pune, India

Indian diets have not been thoroughly investigated despite the fact that 'Nutrition Transition' parallels a rapidly escalating epidemic of obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases. Data on socio-economic background, dietary intake, BMI, Body Fat, Waist Circumference (WC), Abdominal Circumference (AC) and fasting blood estimations were recorded on 302 affluent men (30-60 years) in a cross-sectional study in Pune, India. Average daily calorie intake was lower (1714.7 ± 442 kcal) than the Recommended Dietary Allowance (ICMR, 2010) while mean fat (45.8 ± 19.1 g), carbohydrate (279.2 ± 68.3 g) and protein intakes (46.5 ± 15.1 g) were comparable. Increase in mean WC and AC (3.9 cm), in prevalence of overall obesity (49.4% to 65.4%) and in prevalence of abdominal obesity (24.7% to 40.7%) was significant (p<0.05 for all) across tertiles of total calories. But with increase in fat intake, it was only the prevalence of abdominal obesity that increased significantly (23.2% to 39.5%; p<0.05). Subjects having higher calorie intake (>1816 kcal/d) had two times higher risk for overall and abdominal adiposity while subjects having higher fat intake (>50g/d) had two times higher risk for abdominal obesity alone. Fat density but not carbohydrate, was sensitive as the prevalence of high Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG), significantly (p<0.05) increased (20.2% to 42.9%) with its increase. Additionally, the risk of high FBG was about 3 times higher (p<0.01) for high fat density (>30%). Thus, high fat density but not carbohydrate density may be an important causative factor for high rates of abdominal obesity and disturbed glucose metabolism in India.