Research Article Open Access

Influence of Dietary Habits on Health Risk Factors

Abstract

Dietary habits play an important role in cardiovascular risks by maintaining health and preventing diseases. The present study aimed to determine the influence of dietary habits on health risk factors. A cross sectional study was conducted to relate physical activity, body mass index, alcohol, metabolic syndrome, stress, age, gender, employment, and education with dietary habits. The results were analysed by Chi Square test with statistically significance of p value <0.05. In results, vegetarianism (59.55%) was found more prevalent than omnivorous (40.46%) in the study population. Females (61.72%; p<0.001), age >50 years (76.08%), low education level (66.50%; p<0.05), upper socioeconomic status (38.76%), unemployment (76.55%; p<0.001), and sedentary lifestyle (65.07%) was found associated with vegetarianism. Contrarily, omnivorous was found related with male gender (66.20%; p<0.001), alcohol consumption (54.93%; p<0.001), insomnia (28.87%), and active lifestyle (38.03%). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (33.80%; p<0.05), hypertension (51.41%), dysglycemia (27.46%), obesity (56.34%), and dyslipidemia (34.51%) was more in omnivores than vegetarians (metabolic syndrome: 23.92% (p<0.05); hypertension: 43.06%; dysglycemia: 22.01%; obesity: 48.32%; and dyslipidemia: 27.75%).Vegetarianism plays a protective role against metabolic syndrome and its components. Hence, it can be concluded that high risk individuals, once-identified can be encouraged to familiarize themselves with meatless options through recipes, cookbooks, online resources, and classes; and their medical care-givers can enlist the expertise of dietetic professionals in ensuring complete nutrition and providing group or individual instruction on menu planning and related topics.

Jaspinder Kaur

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