Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factors in Middle-Aged Seventh-Day Adventist Men and Their Neighbors1

Seventh-day Adventists in California have much lower mortality from ischemic heart disease than do other Californians, but the risk factors have not been well documented previously for a representative sample. This study, conducted in 1982, chose a random sample of 160 Californian non-Hispanic white middle-aged Adventist men, 160 of their similar-aged male neighbors, and documented traditional ischemic heart disease risk factors. Results show major dietary differences between the two groups as expected, this being reflected in significant differences in consumption of total fat, saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, and crude fiber. Questionnaire data suggested that the Adventists also exercised 50% more, rarely smoked, but had identical Framingham Type A/B scores. There were no differences in obesity or blood pressure levels, but serum total cholesterol was significantly lower in the Adventists (190.1 vs. 203.5 mg/dl, p less than 0.001), as was low density lipoprotein cholesterol (125 vs. 134.0 mg/dl, p less than 0.03) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (42.3 vs. 46.0 mg/dl, p less than 0.005). Consequently, the ratio of total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol was virtually identical between the two groups. Possible explanations for some of these findings are discussed.