Dietary Patterns and Metabolic Syndrome in Adults

Aims: Considering that diet is a potential factor contributing to the development of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and it is increasingly prevalent among population worldwide, the aim of the present study was to correlate dietary patterns with MetS and its main risk factors in adults.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Place and Duration of Study: School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, between August 2007 and January 2010.

Methodology: This study was conducted with 267 adults (189 women and 78 men) submitted to evaluation procedures which included body composition (waist circumference (WC), height and weight) and blood pressure measurements, biochemical analysis from a single blood sample after a 12-h fasting (serum triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and fasting glucose) and assessment of dietary intake using a 24-hour recall. Dietary patterns (DPs) were identified using principal components factor analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation.

Results: Three distinct DPs were identified from the principal component factor analysis: “Traditional”, “Healthy” and “Western”. Among individuals with MetS, there was a positive correlation between Healthy pattern and HDL-c (P = .03), as well as between Western pattern and WC, TG and LDL-c (P = .001, P = .04 and P = .047). In people without MetS, the negative correlation was observed between Traditional pattern and LDL-c (P = .049), and positive correlation between Healthy pattern and age, TC and, LDL-c (P = .01, P = .03 and P = .03).

Conclusion: Our assessment offers information concerning food combinations that may increase the risk and prevalence of MetS. However, more studies are required to confirm these findings and to assist in the prevention and development of specific nutritional recommendations for this syndrome.