Diet and Gallstones in Women of a Rural Town of Sicily

Abstract

To test the possible association between dietary factors and gallstones, we performed a case-control study on the dietary habits of 71 women with gallstones in a rural area of Sicily (mean age 63.2 years) and compared these with 142 women who did not have gallstones (mean age 63.6 years) selected at random from the same general population. The dietary questionnaire, based on data collected over 7 days, was carefully compiled by two dieticians specially trained for the study. The daily calorie intake was higher in the women with gallstones ( p= 0.006) and was equally distributed between fats, carbohydrates and proteins. The intakes of unsaturated fats ( p= 0.03), unrefined sugars ( p= 0.01) and fibre ( p= 0.04) were significantly higher in the subjects with gallstones. The cholesterol and calcium intakes were not significantly different, although the average consumption in both groups was lower than the recommended quantities. However, all the nutrients were equally distributed in percentage between the tw...