Abstract
Although nutritional health knowledge serves as the basis for the daily food guides, limited epidemiologic studies were conducted to verify whether adherence to the daily food guides reduced the prevalence of diseases. This study aims to examine whether adherence to the daily food guides relates to the lower risk of having metabolic syndrome, as well as to assess the association between levels of adherence to daily food guides and demographic characteristics. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 2013–2016. Face-to-face dietary assessments were conducted using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Six food groups were defined according to the daily food guides in Taiwan. We constructed a daily food guide index to measure the levels of adherence to the daily food guides. Logistic regression was performed to assess the association between the levels of adherence to the daily food guides and the risk of having metabolic syndrome. A total of 2534 participants (51% of females) were included in the final analysis. After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, education level, marital status, and family income, we found a negative correlation between the levels of adherence to daily food guides and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The odds ratios (ORs) for the highest versus lowest quartile of the adherence level was 0.65 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.48–0.88). In addition, males, younger age, lower education, divorced, separated, and widowed, and lower family income were associated with lower adherence to daily food guides. In conclusion, participants reporting better adherence to the daily food guides during the past month had a lower risk of having metabolic syndrome.
Highlights
The metabolic syndrome is a major predictor for cardiovascular disease, which consists of risk factors including hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, and impaired glucose metabolism [1,2]
After adjusting for age, sex, Body mass index (BMI), education level, marital status, and family income, we found negative associations between the levels of adherence to food group 2 and the risk of having metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.60, 95% CI = 0.39–0.92), between the levels of adherence to food group 4 and the risk of having metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.57, 95% CI = 0.41–0.78), and between the levels of adherence to food group 5 and the risk of having metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.64, 95% CI = 0.45–0.92)
We found that participants reporting good adherence to daily food guides during the past month would have a lower risk of having metabolic syndrome
Summary
The metabolic syndrome is a major predictor for cardiovascular disease, which consists of risk factors including hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, and impaired glucose metabolism [1,2]. Several studies have found that dietary patterns were associated with metabolic syndrome. Williams et al published the very first study describing the association of dietary patterns with metabolic syndrome [3]. They found that the healthy balanced dietary pattern, defined as frequent intakes of raw and salad vegetables, fruits in both summer and winter, fish, pasta, and rice and low intake of fried foods, sausages, fried fish, and potatoes, showed protective effects on the risk of central obesity, elevated fasting plasma glucose, 120 min non-esterified fatty acid and triacylglycerol.
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