Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, Mediterranean diet and blood lipid profiles in less-developed ethnic minority regions.

Different from developed countries, there is a paucity of research examining how the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets relate to lipids in in less-developed ethnic minority regions (LEMRs). A total of 83,081 participants from seven ethnic groups were retrieved from the baseline data of the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort (CMEC) study, which was conducted in less-developed Southwest China between May 2018 and September 2019. Multivariable linear regression models were then used to examine the associations of the DASH and AMED scores, assessed by modified DASH score and alternative Mediterranean diet (AMED), as well as their components with total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG) and TC/HDL-C. The DASH scores were negatively associated with TC, HDL-C and TG. Comparing the highest quintiles with the lowest DASH scores, TC decreased 0.0708 (95% CI: -0.0923 ∼ -0.0493) mmol/L, HDL-C decreased 0.0380 (95% CI: -0.0462 ∼ -0.0299) mmol/L, and TG decreased 0.0668 (95% CI: -0.0994 ∼ -0.0341) mmol/L. The AMED scores were negatively associated with TC, LDL-C and HDL-C. Comparing the highest quintiles with the lowest AMED scores, TC decreased 0.0816 (95% CI: -0.1035 ∼ -0.0597) mmol/L, LDL-C decreased 0.0297 (95% CI: -0.0477 ∼ -0.0118) mmol/L, and HDL-C decreased 0.0275 (95% CI: -0.0358 ∼ -0.0192) mmol/L. Although both the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet were negatively associated with blood lipids, those associations showed different patterns in LEMRs, particularly for TG and HDL-C.