title: Assessing food and health relationships: a case study of blood pressure determination in adult Melbourne Chinese.
abstract: An effective public health approach to cardiovascular disease prevention should be one which gives the general public alternatives in choice when fat, salt and sugar are reduced in the diet. Fat, salt and sugar are nutrients which can be found in various foods. Public health educators convert these nutrients into foods so that the general public can engage in daily food choice. The usual nutrient-to-food conversion is indirect and can be misleading. For example, we are still unclear as to the potential benefit of polyunsaturated margarine over butter or olive oil. In a base-line data analysis of Chinese adults in Melbourne, we related food intake in addition to nutrients to major cardiovascular risk factors. In all models, food intake accounted for a higher variation of major cardiovascular risk factors than did nutrient intake. Melbourne Chinese, who consumed a wide variety of foods and ate more fish, vegetable, and fruits, had a better cardiovascular risk profile. The findings are of importance in public health significance. Longitudinal documentation of changing food intake, in addition to nutrients, and associated change in cardiovascular risk factors in this population are needed at this stage followed by further work to confirm its generalizability to Australians at large. This report focuses on findings of blood pressure determination in 547 adult Melbourne Chinese and reviews the way in which food and health relationships may be studied.
authors.affiliation: Monash University, Department of Medicine, Victoria 3168, Australia.
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hsu-Hage
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Wahlqvist