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Western diet linked with increased risk for metabolic syndrome

By Jeremy Cockerill | July 26, 2010

Source: MedWire News

The typical Western diet is associated with an increased risk for the metabolic syndrome compared with other major dietary patterns, a cross-sectional study has found.

Iranian researchers led by Maryam Zare (Isfahan University of Medical Sciences) hypothesized that major dietary patterns would be associated with the prevalence of components of the metabolic syndrome.

To investigate, they enrolled 425 adults aged 35-55 years and studied their diets using food-frequency questionnaires.

Writing in the journal Nutrition, Zare et al say they observed five major dietary patterns, which they labeled “Western,” “prudent,” “vegetarian,” “high-fat dairy,” and “chicken and plant.”

They then used multivariate analysis to look for associations between each dietary pattern and five components of the metabolic syndrome.

The Western diet - high in sweets, butter, soda, mayonnaise, sugar, cookies, lamb, hydrogenated fat, and eggs - was associated with an increased risk for elevated serum triglyceride levels (odds ratio [OR]=1.76) and elevated blood pressure (OR=2.62).

The prudent diet - high in fish, peas, honey, nuts, juice, dry fruits, vegetable oil, liver and organic meat, and coconuts, and low in hydrogenated fat and non-leafy vegetables - was associated with a reduced risk for low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR=0.55).

And finally, the vegetarian diet - high in potatoes, legumes, fruits rich in vitamin C, rice, green leafy vegetables, and fruits rich in vitamin A - was associated with an increased risk for high plasma glucose (OR=2.26).

The remaining two dietary patterns - high-fat dairy (high in high-fat yogurt and high-fat milk and low in low-fat yogurt, peas, and bread), and chicken and plant (high in chicken, fruits rich in vitamin A, green leafy vegetables, and mayonnaise and low in beef, liver, and organic meat) - were not associated with significantly increased or reduced risks for any component of the metabolic syndrome.

In a separate analysis, the team confirmed that the Western diet was associated with an increased risk for the metabolic syndrome (OR=2.32) and the prudent pattern with a reduced risk (OR=0.58), after adjusting for confounders.

“Our findings suggest that consumption of a Western dietary pattern promotes the risk of the metabolic syndrome,” the authors conclude.

“Factors can markedly influence dietary intakes, such as differences in culture, ethnicity, religion, availability of specific foods, and economic development, among others. Therefore, further studies are required to identify major dietary patterns across the country and search for their possible associations with chronic diseases.”