Association between food patterns and metabolic syndrome in China

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the association between a vegetable rich food pattern and the metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults. A cross-sectional household survey of 2849 men and women aged 20 years and over was undertaken in 2002 in Jiangsu Province (response rate 89.0%). Nine hundred fifty six participants free from metabolic syndrome in 2002 participated in a follow up survey in 2007. At baseline, food intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify food patterns. Food intake was measured by food weighing plus consecutive individual 3 day food records. Height, weight and any individual components of the metabolic syndrome were measured both in 2002 and 2007. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome by the modified ATP III definition was 12.9% in men and 19.6% in women. A four-factor solution explained 30.5% of the total variance in food frequency intake. The ‘vegetable rich’ food pattern (whole grains, fruits and vegetables) was positively associated with vegetable oil and energy intake in both genders. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased across the quartiles of ‘vegetable rich’ food pattern. After adjusting for socio-demographic and other three distinct food patterns, the ‘vegetable rich’ pattern was independently associated with metabolic syndrome at baseline. Compared with the lowest quartile (Q1) of ‘vegetable rich’ pattern, the highest quartile (Q4) had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome (men: odds ratio [OR]: 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-2.79; women: OR: 1.75, 95%CI 1.17-2.62). The ‘vegetable rich’ food pattern was also positively associated with incident metabolic syndrome among women in 2007. The healthfulness of ‘vegetable rich’ food pattern is dependent on variety and amounts of other foods used and total intake of energy and various nutrients.