Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy

The prevalence of chronic diseases has been increasing globally for the last few decades [1-3]. Rapid urbanization and changes in the life style due to modernization have been reported to increase the risk for developing chronic diseases [4,5]. Urban people, specially in the developing countries, have sedentary life style, no scope of physical/ organized sports, unhealthy food behaviors, and exposure to pollution that make them vulnerable to a double risk of both infection and chronic degenerative ailments [6,7]. Although, Bangladesh is still a relatively low urbanized country compared to other Asian countries, Dhaka city has emerged as a fast growing megacity in recent years ranking the 11th largest city in the world [8]. Individuals living in rural areas of Bangladesh are far different from the urban populations with regard to certain characteristics such as: life style and behavioral practices. Different studies have observed significantly higher prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and LDL hypercholesterolemia in urban populations [9-12]. Studies have investigated trends in the mean total, non-HDL, remnant and total: HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol in an urban Indian population [13]. Increased serum lipoprotein triggers micro vascular diseases that in addition to become a burden on affected individuals, also affect their families and the society at large in terms of economic and other hardships. Earlier studies have reported a better lipoprotein status of apparently healthy elderly individuals living in rural Bangladesh [14]. Recent study suggested that people living in the urban Dhaka, Bangladesh have reveled higher risk of increased lipoprotein level [15]. However, there is lack of comparative information on serum lipoprotein status between urban and rural populations of Bangladesh. We, therefore, examined the lipoprotein status of individuals living in a rural community in Bangladesh and compared results with that of an urban population.