Evaluation of Dietary Risk Factors for Abnormal Serum Cholesterol in Korean Sedentary Male Adults

This study investigated whether dietary factors are more influential factor than other health behavior such as drinking, smoking and exercise on abnormal serum cholesterol level inspite of Korean dietary pattern differences compared to Europeans and Americans. A double case control study model has been used for the study design. One model consisted of high blood cholesterol cases and control. the other model consisted of low blood cholesterol cased and controls. 5.398 sedentary male workers who had taken medical examinations at a university hospital were used as the study subjects. Out of the study subjects, 36individuals with high blood cholesterol cases and 30 individuals with low blood cholesterol cases were selected. For the 66 individual control selection, the individual control selection, the individuals matching method was adopted. The food frequency method was used to collect the data for assessment of the dietary factors. A standardized questionnaire was used to investigate other health behavior. logistic regression analysis was employed to measure the relative importance between the factors considered. There were no statistically significant differences observed in nutrients consumption or other health behavior among the low, normal and high blood cholesterol groups, An overmatching effect had been suspected as the cause of those findings. However, the results of logistic regression analysis to identify the factors influencing high serum cholesterol showed that odd ratios of dietary factors such as tocopherol(3.0) and saturated fatty acid(1.6) were higher than I. I of smoking and 1.2 of drinking. Similar results were also observed incases of low serum cholesterol. The above findings imply that although the dietary pattern is quite different from that of Europeans and America, the dietary factor is still a significant factor for abnormal blood cholesterol in Koreans. Therefore, the dietary risk factor identified in high fat consumption populations are still relevant for the relatively healthy Korean as guideline for preventive health practices. (Korean J Community Nutrition 2(5) : 721∼727, 1997)