Highlights the diversity of dietary fat intake across Indian regions and its potential impact on serum cholesterol and coronary atherosclerosis.
INDIA is fertile ground for the cardiovascular epidemiologist.With a population of 430 million and an area of 1,266,922 square miles, it offers great variety in ethnic groups and food habits.The population in the North is a mixture of the original Indo-Aryans with successive waves of invaders from the North- west.That in the South is not quite so mixed, a large Dravidian element still being present.In addition, there are many so-called aborig- inals with primitive ways of life.Food habits vary.The carbohydrate eaten may be rice, wheat, or millets.The common cooking oils and fats used in the different regions vary in their effect on the serum cholesterol levels.'Thus coconut oil used in the Southwest and mustard oil used in Bengal have a cholesterol- raising effect, while sesame oil and safflower oil used in parts of the South and Central India have the opposite effect.Although it is not our confirmed belief that the diet and its fat content are the only causes of coronary atherosclerosis, it would be proper to summarize here the data available at present on this aspect.Epidemiologic studies carried out over the past 5 years in four Indian cities* suggest these tentative conclusions: 1.The great majority of people (the low-income group) have a diet of low-fat content irrespective of the type of fat eaten From the Department of Medicine, Lady Hardinge
S Padmavati (Sun,) studied this question.
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