Association between Dietary Diversity Score and Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults: A Community-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

Dietary diversity is recognized as a key indicator of dietary quality and is known to affect the burden of non-communicable diseases. This study examined the gender-stratified association between dietary diversity score (DDS) and risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in 5468 adults aged 40−69 years during a 12-year follow-up of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). DDS was calculated according to the consumption of the five food groups based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for Koreans. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to evaluate MetS risk according to DDS. A higher DDS was negatively associated with the consumption of grains but positively associated with the consumption of fruits and non-salted vegetables. Furthermore, participants with a higher DDS showed higher consumption of fish and milk. Prospectively, a higher DDS was significantly associated with a lower risk of MetS in men (HR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.63−0.92, p < 0.01). In all participants, a higher DDS was inversely associated with the incidence of abdominal obesity (men, HR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.62−0.93, p < 0.01; women, HR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.67−0.94, p < 0.01). Furthermore, men with a higher DDS had a lower risk of hypertriglyceridemia (HR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71−0.97, p < 0.05). These findings suggested that eating a more varied diet might have favorable effects on preventing MetS in Korean adults.

Association between Seafood Intake and Cardiovascular Disease in South Korean Adults: A Community-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common non-communicable diseases causing 18.6 million deaths worldwide. Several studies have revealed that seafood consumption has a protective effect against CVD. This study investigated the correlation between CVD and seafood intake based on a 10-year follow-up of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). The study population, which included 6565 adults age, 55.65 (±8.68), was divided into seafood intake-based tertiles. CVD included myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease. At baseline, participants with low seafood intake also had low eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intakes. Prospectively, hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Seafood intake exhibited a significantly inverse relationship with the cumulative CVD incidence over 10 years regardless of sex (women: log-rank test p < 0.001 and men: log-rank test p < 0.0401). The longitudinal association of low seafood intake with the CVD risk was significantly stronger in female participants after adjusting for confounding variables (HR (95% confidence interval (CI)) = 0.718 (0.519−0.993) p-trend = 0.043). These results suggested that seafood consumption potentially ameliorates CVD risk in middle-aged adults.