Dietary pro-oxidant score (POS) and cardio-metabolic panel among obese individuals: a cross-sectional study

Oxidative stress is a disturbance in the natural balance between oxidative and anti-oxidative processes, which is the major effective factor in cardiovascular disorders and metabolic syndrome (MetS), due to the role of pro-oxidants in inducing oxidative stress, and as a result, the occurrence and exacerbation of components of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors, this cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between the status of dietary pro-oxidants score (POS) and metabolic parameters including serum lipids, glycemic markers and blood pressure among obese adults.

338 individuals with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m ²), aged between 20 and 50 years were recruited in the present cross-sectional study. A validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to determine the dietary pro-oxidant score (POS). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's post-hoc comparisons after adjustment for confounders and multivariable logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the association of cardiometabolic risk factors among the tertiles of POS.

Participants with higher POS had lower levels of body mass index (BMI), weight and waist circumference (WC). There were no significant associations between metabolic parameters including glycemic markers and lipid profile in one-way ANOVA and multivariate multinomial logistic regression models.

The findings of this study revealed that greater dietary pro-oxidant intake might be associated with lower BMI, body weight, and WC in Iranian obese individuals. Further studies with interventional or longitudinal approaches will help to better elucidate the causality of the observed associations.