Dietary pattern classifications and the association with general obesity and abdominal obesity in Korean women

Abstract

This study was performed to identify dietary patterns and determine relationships between obesity and dietary patterns in Korean women. Using baseline data from the Korean Health and Genome Study, dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis of data from a validated food frequency questionnaire, and relationships between dietary patterns and obesity were analyzed. Four dietary patterns were identified: the animal food (greater intake of meats, and fish), the rice‐vegetable (greater intake of steamed rice, and vegetable), the bread‐dairy (greater intake of bread, milk, and dairy products), and the noodle (greater intake of noodles). In Korean women, dietary patterns were related to abdominal obesity but not obesity. The rice‐vegetable and noodle dietary pattern, depended energy intake on carbohydrate over 70%, increased the risk of abdominal obesity. However, the bread‐dairy dietary patterns had negative relationship with abdominal obesity. In this study, we identified four unique dietary patterns in Korean women that were independently associated with abdominal obesity. Since carbohydrate dependent dietary could increase the risk of abdominal obesity, we suggested that for Korean women, energy‐yield nutrients, carbohydrate, protein and fat, should be well‐balanced as recommended to reduce the abdominal obesity.