(P13-039-24) Development of the Korean Healthy Diet and Its Association With Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a Korean healthy diet and investigate its association with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Korean adults.

Methods: To define the Korean healthy diet, we conducted literature reviews, analyzed food and nutrients intake patterns among Koreans, and received expert advice. Adherence to the Korean healthy diet was assessed based on the compliance of food groups and nutrients intake recommendations from the Korean Dietary Reference Intakes, categorized by sex and age groups. The adherence score was calculated, assigning 1 point for adherence and 0 points for non-adherence to each recommendation, with the total score determined by adding up the all points. The association between adherence to the Korean healthy diet and the prevalence of MetS was analyzed using data from the 2016-2021 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included dietary data of 20,219 adults. The prevalence of MetS was determined using health examination data, including waist circumference, blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting blood glucose. The diagnosis of MetS was based on the criteria from the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III, identifying individuals with three or more of these factors as having MetS. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association using SAS and SPSS.

Results: The Korean healthy diet consisted of 13 components: carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, protein, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, calcium, mixed grains, meat·fish·eggs·beans, vegetables, fruits, and dairy products. The results showed that approximately 22.3% of participants had MetS. The average adherence score to the healthy diet was 6.21±1.71. Women scored higher (6.36±1.71) than men (6.02±1.70, p< 0.001), and the 50-64 age group scored higher (6.73±1.68) than the 19-29 age group (5.45±1.61, p< 0.001). A 1-point increase in the diet score was associated with a decrease in the odds of MetS to 0.97 (95% CI, 0.94-0.99).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the developed Korean healthy diet score is inversely associated with the prevalence of MetS.

Funding Sources: This work was carried out with the support of "Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01704702)" Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.