Background Prospective studies on lipids and risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Asian populations are sparse. This study prospectively examined the associations between dietary cholesterol and major fatty acids, and risk of PD among the Chinese in Singapore.

Methods This study used data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a population-based prospective cohort of 63 257 men and women aged 45–74 years in Singapore enrolled in 1993–1998. Dietary intakes of cholesterol and fatty acids were derived from a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the Singapore Food Composition Table. Incident PD cases were identified either through follow-up interviews or record linkage analysis with hospital discharge and PD outpatient registries.

Results After an average of 14.6 years, 218 men and 193 women in the cohort developed PD. Dietary cholesterol was associated with statistically significantly lower risk of PD in a dose–dependent manner among men after adjustment for established risk factors for PD and intakes of major fatty acids. Compared to the lowest quartile, HR (95% CI) for the highest quartile was 0.53 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.84) (P for trend=0.006). Among women, dietary monounsaturated fatty acid was inversely associated with PD risk (P for trend=0.033). Compared to the lowest quartile, HR for the highest quartile was 0.44 (95% CI 0.22 to 0.88). There was no statistically significant association between dietary saturated, n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and PD risk.

Conclusions Higher intakes of cholesterol and monounsaturated fatty acids may reduce risk of PD in men and women, respectively.