Dietary intervention
Each arm containing 100 patients was assigned to branded commercial coconut oil or sunflower oil as per block randomization. The oils were given to subjects as well as to the family members so as to ensure the compliance. The subjects were asked to use the assigned oil for cooking. A 24 h dietary recall was applied to all subjects before the commencement of the study to test their dietary pattern. The total energy requirements and the amount of oil required to meet 15% of daily calories were calculated on the basis of 24 h recall. During the study, 7 day recall and a diet diary were used to monitor the adherence of study subjects to the assigned oil and food pattern.