A traditional Korean dietary pattern and metabolic syndrome abnormalities

Using national data, we explored the relationship between dietary patterns and metabolic abnormalities to address how the traditional Korean diet, high in carbohydrate and low in animal fat with plenty of plant foods, has influenced metabolic abnormalities in the adult population.

We examined cross-sectional associations between dietary patterns and the risk of metabolic abnormalities in 4,730 subjects aged 20 years or more using both health and dietary data from the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination survey. Three evident dietary patterns were derived by cluster analysis: 'Traditional' (50.3% of total population), 'Meat and Alcohol, (15.8%) and 'Korean Healthy' (33.9%). The 'Traditional' group was characterised by high consumptions of rice and kimchi, while the 'Korean healthy' group ate a modified Korean-style diet with various foods such as noodles, bread, eggs and milk, and the 'Meat and Alcohol' group had high consumptions of processed meat and alcohol. Compared with the 'Traditional' pattern, the 'Meat and Alcohol' pattern was associated with a 33% increased risk of having elevated blood glucose, a 21% increased risk of having elevated serum triglycerides and a 21% increased risk of having elevated blood pressure. However, the 'Traditional' pattern showed a 23% increased risk of having low high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol compared with the other two patterns by logistics analysis.

Fifty percent of the Korean adult population continues to follow a traditional dietary pattern, having beneficial effects with respect to some metabolic abnormalities. However, the high prevalence of low HDL-cholesterol, attributable to a high-carbohydrate diet, should be considered.