International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | June 2023 | Vol 10 | Issue 6 Page 2234 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Balasankar JM et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2023 Jun;10(6):2234-2239 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Dietary habits and selected noncommunicable disease risk factors among middle-aged adults in rural Kerala Balasankar J. M. 1 , Hanudha N. K. 1 , Neethu M. S. 2 , Biju Soman 1 * INTRODUCTION Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading public health concern, contributing to 71% of deaths globally. More than 15 million people who die from an NCD are between 30-69 years of age. Among these premature deaths, 85% occur in low- and middle-income countries. 1 Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people annually, followed by cancers (9.3 million), respiratory diseases (4.1 million), and diabetes (1.5 million). 2 In India, one in every four people risks dying from a NCD before 70 years. In the report named “India: health of the nation’s states” by the ministry of health and family welfare (MoH and FW), Government of India, it is stated that there is a considerable increase in the contribution of NCDs from 30% of total disease burden (DALY-disability adjusted life years) in 1990 to 55% in 2016 and also an increase in the proportion of deaths from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016. 3 Kerala has been a hub of NCDs due to rampant urbanization and modernization which had infiltrated even to the grass root levels of the state, irrespective of the region and economic strata, influencing the population’s lifestyle for the increased prevalence of NCDs. 4 Presently, one in five is diabetic, and one in three is hypertensive, which could be attributed to ABSTRACT Background: Noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors are increasing in Kerala. The science of Ayurveda emphasizes lifestyle modification rather than treating the disease. We aim to explore the correlation between selected ayurvedic dietary risk factors with NCD risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and obesity. Methods: Using cluster sampling, a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 410 middle-aged adults in the rural Kollam district, Kerala. The participants underwent biochemical tests for fasting blood sugar (FBS) and serum cholesterol (S. Cholesterol). WHO STEPs questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and a checklist to assess the usage of dietary risk factors proposed by Ayurveda for NCDs were used. All analyses were done using R software version 4.1.2. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46±5.4 years. The rates of regular intake of salty foods (ati-lavana) (77.1%), sour foods (ati-amla) (80.5%), heavy foods (guru-annapaana) (87.3%), oily foods (snigdha annapaana) (67.3%), frequency of food intake more than 4 times day (80%) were found to be high in population. On multivariate analysis, increased frequency of food intake was found to be associated with diabetes (AOR-1.9, CI: 1.2-3.2). Conclusions: Some of the risk factors that Ayurveda has been proposing are found to have an association with the NCD risk factors considered. Interventions to reduce the prevalence of selected NCD risk factors that incorporate the stipulations of alternative systems could have a significant public health impact. Keywords: Ayurveda, NCD risk factors, Food frequency, Food habits 1 Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, India 2 Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, Kerala, India Received: 17 April 2023 Revised: 21 May 2023 Accepted: 22 May 2023 *Correspondence: Dr. Biju Soman, E-mail: bijusoman@sctimst.ac.in Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20231709