Benefits of adherence to the Korea Healthy Eating Index on the risk factors and incidence of the metabolic syndrome: analysis of the 7th (2016–2018) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 한국영양학회지

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#The purpose of the study was to investigate whether adherence to the Korea Healthy Eating Index (KHEI) was associated with metabolic syndrome and risk markers. @*Methods@#The participants included 8,345 adults, aged 20–59 years, who took part in the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The data were analyzed using a complex-sample t-test, the Rao Scott χ 2 -test, and logistic regression analysis on the SPSS v. 26.0 software. The participants were divided into four groups by quartiles of KHEI scores. @*Results@#The average KHEI score was 61.06 points out of 100, and the women’s score (62.50points) was significantly higher than that of men (59.63 points). The KHEI quartiles status showed significant differences by age (p < 0.001), household income (p < 0.001), smoking status (p < 0.001), and food security. Specifically, the KHEI quartiles in the men showed significant differences in education (p < 0.001) and economic activity (p < 0.001) whereas those of women showed significant differences in alcohol-consumption (p < 0.001), depression (p < 0.01) and eating-out (p < 0.001). As the KHEI scores increased, the proportion of subjects with an energy intake below the estimated energy requirement (EER) was lower, and significantly better levels of intake were observed for carbohydrate, protein, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin B 1 , vitamin B 2 , and niacin. The incidence of the metabolic syndrome risk factors, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia for men and hypertension, and hyperglycemia for women showed significant differences. The KHEI scores were inversely associated with abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. @*Conclusion@#Based on these results, we conclude that higher adherence to the KHEI was associated with lower metabolic syndrome risk factors and incidence of the metabolic syndrome.