Dietary Flavonoid Intake is Associated with an Anti‐atherogenic Blood Lipid Profile

Abstract

There is evidence that greater intake of dietary flavonoids is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although metabolic syndrome constitutes a major risk factor of CVD, studies have generally not examined whether metabolic syndrome is associated with flavonoid intake. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between dietary flavonoid intake and metabolic syndrome parameters and related biomarkers. Flavonoid intake was estimated using the USDA flavonoid database and food consumption data of U.S. adults 蠅 19 years of age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007‐2012 (n = 2478). Outcome measures in this study included metabolic syndrome parameters, total cholesterol (TC), serum triglycerides (TG) to high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) ratio (TG/HDL‐C), and TC/HDL‐C. Relationships between flavonoid intake and outcome measures were assessed using linear and logistic regression models adjusted for energy and relevant confounders. TG, TG/HDL‐C and TC/HDL‐C were inversely associated with total dietary flavonoid intake (p < 0.05), which suggests that greater flavonoid intake may be associated with a reduced risk of CVD. However, waist circumference, blood pressure, TC, HDL‐C, and fasting glucose were not significantly associated with flavonoid intake. These results indicate that greater dietary flavonoid intake is associated with a more favorable lipid profile, but not with metabolic syndrome parameters. This study provides a basis for further research on relationship between flavonoid intake and CVD.