Association Between Dietary Variety Score and Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Women: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract Objectives Dietary variety is reported to be an indicator to assess dietary quality and reduces the risk of chronic diseases. This study was performed to investigate the association between dietary variety score (DVS) and the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MS) in Korean women. Methods The data was obtained from the Ansan and Anseoneg Cohort Study which was a part of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. Subjects were 2865 women aged 40–69 years without MS. DVS was defined by counting the number of different food items consumed during a day. When subjects consumed another food item, dietary variety scored 1. Based on the DVS from 0 to 85, subjects were classified into five groups. Results During the 12-years follow-up study, the cumulative incidence of MS was 38.0%. Subjects with higher DVS showed a decreased incidence of MS compared to those with lower DVS. In addition, higher DVS was associated with lower risk of developing MS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.63 – 0.97 for quintile 1 vs. quintile 5, p-trend = 0.008] after adjustment for potential cofounders. Of MS components, high abdominal obesity (HR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69 – 0.98, p-trend = 0.004), high blood pressure (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.64 – 0.97, p-trend = 0.014) and high triglyceride (HR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.57 – 0.92, p -trend = 0.041) were prospectively associated with DVS. Conclusions These results suggested that eating various foods may reduce the risk of MS in Korean women. Funding Sources None.