DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis.
SETTING: The Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team (MyHeART) study.
PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen-year-old secondary school children who have given consent and who participated in the MyHeART study in 2014.
PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Muscle strength was measured in relation to dietary intake (energy and macronutrients) and physical activity by using a hand grip dynamometer.
RESULTS: Among the 1012 participants (395 male; 617 female), the hand grip strength of the males was higher than that of the females (27.08 kg vs 18.63 kg; p<0.001). Also, males were more active (2.43vs2.12; p<0.001) and consumed a higher amount of energy (2047 kcal vs 1738 kcal; p<0.001), carbohydrate (280.71 g vs 229.31 g; p<0.001) and protein (1.46 g/kg body weight (BW) vs 1.35 g/kg BW; p<0.168). After controlling for ethnicity, place of residency and body mass index, there was a positive relationship between hand grip strength and the intake of energy (r=0.14; p=0.006), carbohydrate (r=0.153; p=0.002) and fat (r=0.124; p=0.014) and the physical activity score (r=0.170; p=0.001) and a negative relationship between hand grip strength and the intake of protein (r=-0.134; p=0.008), for males. However, this was not observed among females.
CONCLUSIONS: Energy, carbohydrate and fat intakes and physical activity score were positively correlated with hand grip strength while protein intake was negatively correlated with hand grip strength in males but not in females.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer risk with fat and fat subtypes intake.
METHODOLOGY: This is a population based case-control study conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from January 2006 to December 2007. Food intake pattern was collected from 382 breast cancer patients and 382 control group via an interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to compute odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and a broad range of potential confounders was included in analysis.
RESULTS: This study showed that both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer risk did not increase significantly with greater intake of total fat [quartile (Q) 4 versus Q1 OR=0.76, 95% CI, 0.23-2.45 and OR=1.36, 95% CI, 0.30-3.12], saturated fat (ORQ4 to Q1=1.43, 95% CI, 0.51-3.98 and ORQ4 to Q1=1.75, 95% CI, 0.62-3.40), monounsaturated fat (ORQ4 to Q1=0.96, 95% CI, 0.34-1.72 and ORQ4 to Q1=1.74, 95% CI, 0.22-2.79), polyunsaturated fat (ORQ4 to Q1=0.64, 95% CI, 0.23-1.73 and ORQ4 to Q1=0.74, 95% CI, 0.39-1.81), n-3 polyunsaturated fat (ORQ4 to Q1=1.10, 95% CI, 0.49-2.48 and ORQ4 to Q1=0.78, 95% CI, 0.28-2.18), n-6 polyunsaturated fat (ORQ4 to Q1=0.67, 95% CI, 0.24-1.84 and ORQ4 to Q1=0.71, 95% CI, 0.29-1.04) or energy intake (ORQ4 to Q1=1.52, 95% CI, 0.68-3.38 and ORQ4 to Q1=2.21, 95% CI, 0.93-3.36).
CONCLUSION: Total fat and fat subtypes were not associated with pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer risk after controlling for age, other breast cancer risk factors and energy intake. Despite the lack of association, the effects of total fat and fat subtypes intake during premenopausal years towards postmenopausal breast cancer risk still warrant investigation.
OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of high-protein Malaysian diets prepared with palm olein, coconut oil (CO), or virgin olive oil on plasma homocysteine and selected markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy adults.
DESIGN: A randomized-crossover intervention with 3 dietary sequences of 5 wk each was conducted in 45 healthy subjects. The 3 test fats, namely palmitic acid (16:0)-rich palm olein (PO), lauric and myristic acid (12:0 + 14:0)-rich CO, and oleic acid (18:1)-rich virgin olive oil (OO), were incorporated at two-thirds of 30% fat calories into high-protein Malaysian diets.
RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the effects of the 3 diets on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and the inflammatory markers TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and interferon-γ. Diets prepared with PO and OO had comparable nonhypercholesterolemic effects; the postprandial total cholesterol for both diets and all fasting lipid indexes for the OO diet were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than for the CO diet. Unlike the PO and OO diets, the CO diet was shown to decrease postprandial lipoprotein(a).
CONCLUSION: Diets that were rich in saturated fatty acids prepared with either PO or CO, and an OO diet that was high in oleic acid, did not alter postprandial or fasting plasma concentrations of tHcy and selected inflammatory markers. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00941837.