ASSOCIATION OF TRANS-FATTY-ACIDS (VEGETABLE GHEE) AND CLARIFIED BUTTER (INDIAN GHEE) INTAKE WITH HIGHER RISK OF CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE IN RURAL AND URBAN POPULATIONS WITH LOW-FAT CONSUMPTION

These cross-sectional surveys included 1769 rural (894 men and 875 wom en) and 1806 urban (904 men and 902 women) randomly selected subjects between 25-64 years of age from Moradabad in North India. The total pr evalence of coronary artery disease based on clinical history and elec trocardiogram was significantly higher in urban compared to rural men (11.0 vs. 3.9%) and women (6.9 vs. 2.6%), respectively. Food consumpti on patterns showed that important differences in relation to coronary artery disease were higher intake of total visible fat, milk and milk products, meat, eggs, sugar and jaggery in urban compared to rural sub jects. Prevalence of coronary artery disease in relation to visible fa t intake showed a higher prevalence rate with higher visible fat intak e in both sexes and the trend was significant for total prevalence rat es both for rural and urban men and women. Subgroup analysis among urb an (694 men and 694 women) and rural (442 men and 435 women) subjects consuming moderate to high fat diets showed that subjects eating trans fatty acids plus clarified butter or those consuming clarified butter as total visible fat had a significantly higher prevalence of coronar y artery disease compared to those consuming clarified butter plus veg etable oils in both rural (9.8, 7.1 vs. 3.0%) and urban (16.2, 13.5 vs . 11.0%) men as well as in rural (9.2, 4.5 vs. 1.5%) and urban (10.7, 8.8 vs. 6.4%) women. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis w ith adjustment for age showed that sedentariness in women, body mass i ndex in urban men and women, milk and clarified butter plus trans fatt y acids in both rural and urban in both sexes were significantly assoc iated with coronary artery disease. It is possible that lower intake o f total visible fat (20 g/day), decreased intake of milk, increased ph ysical activity and cessation of smoking may benefit some populations in the prevention of coronary artery disease.