Diet, other lifestyle factors and HDL cholesterol in a population of Australian male service recruits.

The association between dietary and other factors and plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration was examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a sample (n = 530) of Australian male service recruits (mean age 21 years) involved in a nine-week induction training program. The findings suggest that diet may make an independent contribution to HDL cholesterol, equal in importance to alcohol, smoking, fitness and obesity--previously identified as being important. Water and carbohydrate consumption showed a negative cross-sectional association with HDL cholesterol on multivariate analysis. The negative association for carbohydrates was also observed longitudinally. Less consistent associations for saturated fat and for total energy intake were also observed. When the relationship between dietary factors and the HDL cholesterol/cholesterol ratio was examined the most important dietary factor appeared to be saturated fat, which was negatively associated with this ratio. No consistent association was observed for any of the 67 individual foods examined.