Association of Dietary Pattern and Metabolic Syndrome in 15- to 49-Years-old Women

The term ‘metabolic syndrome” is now used specifically to define a constellation of abnormalities including visceral obesity, insulin resistance, high fasting blood sugar, dyslipidemia and hypertension that are associated with increased risk for the development of fatty liver, asthma, cystic ovary syndrome, gall stone and some cancers. The exact mechanisms of the complex pathways of metabolic syndrome are not yet completely known but genetic factor, metabolic stress and environmental factor, such as diet, are considered. Although individual foods and nutrients have been associated with the metabolic syndrome, whether dietary patterns identified by factor analysis are also associated with this syndrome is not known. We aimed to evaluate the association of major dietary patterns characterized via factor analysis with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome among women.

Usual dietary intakes were assessed in a cross-sectional study on 280 woman aged 15-49 years. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were performed, and biochemical markers were taken for biomarker assessment and dietary patterns identified via factor analysis.

We identified 2 major dietary patterns, the healthy dietary pattern and the Western dietary pattern. After control for potential confounders, subjects in the highest tertile of healthy dietary pattern scores had a lower odds ratio for the metabolic syndrome (odds ratio: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.26-0.99) and there was not significant difference between the woman in the lowest tertile and women in the highest quintile of Western dietary pattern.

Significant associations exist between the healthy dietary patterns identified via factor analysis and the metabolic syndrome.