Association of Metabolic Syndrome with Whole Milk and Low Fat Milk: Using Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013–2015

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Korean milk consumption and low-fat milk sales are steadily increasing. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of metabolic syndrome according to the type of milk. METHODS: The subjects included 5,553 persons who aged 19 to 64 years, from the data of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2013–2015. All subjects were divided by intake of type of milk that are ‘whole milk intake group’, ‘low-fat milk intake group’ and ‘no milk intake grou’p. And the subects were classified as 19-39 years old and 40-64 years old. In order to check differences of demo-sociographic characteristics and metabolic risk factors in three groups, the data was analyzed by chi-square test, t-test and binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: For subjects aged 40–64, whole milk intake group had lower relevance with metabolic syndrome than no milk intake group (odds ratio [OR] 0.807, P=0.035, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.660–0.985). But low fat milk intake group was't relevant (OR 0.879, P=0.350, 95% CI 0.670–1.152). Looking at the 19-39 year-old subjects, whole milk and low fat milk intake group were not associated with metaboic syndrome (OR 1.023, P=0.911, 95% CI 0.686–1.525; OR 1.547, P=0.103, 95% CI 0.915–2.617). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that whole milk intake is less relevant to the metabolic syndrome than no milk intake. Low fat milk intake was not relevant. More researches are needed to determine the effects of low fat milk and whole milk on metabolic syndrome.