ABSTRACT
Background: Obesity is the first of the “diseases of civilization” to appear. Its prevalence is escalating at an alarming rate. Environmental and behavioral changes brought about by economic development, modernization and urbanization has been linked to the rise in global obesity. Obesity may induce systemic oxidative stress. Objective: The present scenario suggests that higher oxidative stress is the key factor of obesity and hence a management strategy aiming at control of lipid peroxidation in obesity by use of maize diet is envisaged. Material and methods: This study has been conducted on 1001 Gujarati and non Gujarati girls aged between 18-30 years. They were further distributed according to age, inhabitance, socio economic status, dietary habits, family history and blood pressure. Every subject in each group was asked to replace the wheat chapatti by maize chapatti for 30 days; the girls were examined for oxidative stress parameter MDA before and after maize diet along with the statistical evaluation. Results: There was a positive effect of maize diet on biochemical parameter of all the girls in all the subgroups Malondialdehyde level in total girls before the maize diet was 2.35 ± 0.76nmol/ml which reduced to 1.8 ± 0.46nmol/ml after the diet (P<0.001). Conclusions: The oxidative stress showed improvement in normal, overweight and obese girls, most significantly on overweight and obese girls after taking the diet (P<0.001). Current dietetic practice is to recommend a healthy eating plan of reduced fat, and increased fiber intake.