Journal of Applied and Natural Science 10 (4): 1173 -1179 (2018) ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) journals.ansfoundation.org A comparison of macro and micronutrient intake of adult men with different degrees of abdominal obesity Dayadeep Kaur Grewal Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab), India Kiran Bains* Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab), India Harpreet Kaur Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab), India *Corresponding author. E-mail: kiranbains68@hotmail.com Abstract One hundred and two volunteer male subjects (40-60 years) were divided on the basis of abdominal obesity into three groups - No abdominal obesity i.e. Grade 0 with waist cir- cumference <94 cm; Abdominal obesity i.e. Grade I with waist circumference: 94.1 to 101.9 cm and Grade II with waist circumference: >102 cm. The daily consumption of pro- tein per kg body weight of the subjects was 1.28, 1.21 and 1.06g, the protein intake of the subjects with Grade II AO was significantly (p≤0.001) lower than the subjects with either no AO or Grade I AO. The carbohydrate: protein ratio varied between a narrow range of 3.48 to 3.69 among the three groups indicating high carbohydrate diets of all the subjects. Energy and fat intake of the subjects in all the groups was much higher than the recom- mended dietary allowances. The ratio of animal: plant protein intake was almost similar in the subjects with no AO or with Grade I and II AO, the ratio being 0.74, 0.81 and 0.89, respectively. The micronutrient intake of the studied group was fairly adequate. Out of eight major vitamins, six were more than adequate (>100%) or marginally adequate (>75%), while the intake of minerals namely calcium, iron and zinc was adequate or near- ly adequate among the subjects in the all the three groups, thereby indicating a good mineral and vitamin status of subjects in the present study. Keywords: Abdominal obesity, Carbohydrates, Males, Protein, Waist circumference Article Info DOI:10.31018/jans.v10i4.1896 Received: September 17, 2018 Revised: October 27, 2018 Accepted: November 1, 2018 How to Cite Grewal, D.K. et al. (2018). A comparison of macro and micronutrient intake of adult men with different degrees of abdominal obesity. Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 10 (4): 1173 -1179 INTRODUCTION Abdominal or visceral fat in comparison to subcu- taneous fat is a matter of concern because it is a major determining factor in many health problems. It has been associated with several metabolic abnormalities and resulted in an enhanced risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Abdominal adiposity is assessed through waist circumference measurement and is more appropriate to predict metabolic disorders than the determination of general obesity through body mass index (BMI). Since, Visceral fat is related to higher total choles- terol and LDL cholesterol. The lower HDL choles- terol and insulin resistance (Chang et al., 2016) have been observed among adults with ab- dominal obesity (Després et al., 2008). Alt- hough several factors like genetic, metabolic, so- cial, cultural and environment are associated with obesity but a strong association between macro- nutrient intake and weight change has been demonstrated. In addition to decreased physical activity, the intake of energy dense and high calo- rie foods mainly sugars and fats are found to be the major causative factors of obesity. A positive association has been reported between waist cir- cumference and energy, cabohydrates and fats. In order to control and prevent abdominal obesity and related chronic diseases, it is important to avoid high fat or high carbohydrate diet (Nikbazm et al., 2013). Several studies have proved that it is the quality of carbohydrates which determines whether a person becomes obese or not. The foods with high glycemic index, high insulin re- sponse and fast glucose decline may cause an increase in hunger and lipogenesis, therefore, leads to obesity and a sudden increase in blood sugar. Further, the refined carbohydrates or sug- ars also influence the development of chronic dis- eases (Ley et al., 2014). A positive association between glycemic index and weight/waist- circumference has been reported. In contrast, car- This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © 2018: Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF.