Relationship Between the Consumption of Milk-Based Oils Including Butter and Kermanshah Ghee with Metabolic Syndrome: Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in recent years has been growing in different societies, which may be due to lifestyle changes including changes in diet, in particular the consumption pattern of edible oils. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the consumption of animal oils including butter and Kermanshah ghee with MetS and its components in the adult population of Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort study. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 5550 adults aged 35–65 years using baseline data of Ravansar’s prospective study center in Iran. MetS was defined according to the criteria of modified NCEP ATP III for Iranian adults. Relationship between the consumption of butter and Kermanshah ghee and MetS was analyzed by logistic regression model using STATA software. RESULTS: In our study, the frequency of MetS was 31.40%. The mean body mass index and mean age were 27.1±4.6 kg/m(2) and 47.6±8.2 years. The mean values of consumed butter and Kermanshah ghee were 3.3±1.8 and 5.1±2.3 g/day, respectively. After adjusting the confounding variables, the highest to the lowest quintile of butter and Kermanshah ghee consumption showed a reverse correlation with the MetS (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.5–0.9) and (OR= 0.7, 95% CI=0.6–0.9), respectively. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a reverse relationship between milk and Kermanshah ghee consumption with MetS and its components. Therefore, consumption of milk-based oils may be associated with lower cardiovascular risk factors.