Dietary Fat Is Associated With Metabolic Syndrome in Japanese Brazilians

Abstract

FOR THE JAPANESE-BRAZILIAN DIABETESSTUDY GROUP* OBJECTIVE -The aim of this study was to examine the association of nutrient intakes with metabolic syndrome in a Japanese descendant population at high risk for metabolic abnormalities. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-In a population-based study of Japanese Brazilians aged Ն30 years, 412 men and 465 women were studied. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was based on the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria modified for Asians. Food intake was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire.RESULTS -Men and women showed similar mean ages (55.7 Ϯ 12.7 and 54.4 Ϯ 11.9 years) and 49% (95% CI 44.8 -54.6) and 43% (38.4 -47.6) had metabolic syndrome, respectively. As expected, clinical parameters were less favorable in the subset of subjects with metabolic syndrome. Men with metabolic syndrome showed higher cholesterol (233.2 Ϯ 116.3 vs. 211.7 Ϯ 5.8 g/day, P Ͻ 0.05) and lower carbohydrate (288.5 Ϯ 45.8 vs. 300.1 Ϯ 39.8 g/day, P Ͻ 0.001) intakes than those without metabolic syndrome, but no difference was observed among the women. After adjusting for sex, age, smoking, education level, generation, physical activity, total energy, and dietary fiber intake, a positive association between metabolic syndrome and total fat intake was detected. Comparing people in the highest quintile of total fat consumption with those in the lowest quintile, odds ratio (OR) of metabolic syndrome was 5.0 ([95% CI 1.58 -16.00]; P Ͻ 0.005). In contrast, linoleic acid intake was inversely associated with metabolic syndrome (OR 0.50 [95% CI 0.26 -0.98]; P Ͻ 0.05). Considering food groups, after adjustments only fried food intake was shown to be associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome.CONCLUSIONS -Despite the limitation of such a study design in investigating causeeffect relationships, our findings favor the hypothesis that dietary total fat may increase whereas linoleic acid intake may reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome in Japanese descendants living in Brazil. Diabetes Care 28:1779 -1785, 2005T he concept of metabolic syndrome includes a number of metabolic disturbances linked by insulin resistance, which increase cardiovascular risk (1). Weight gain (in particular, the abdominal depot of body fat) has a key role for the development of the syndrome.Lack of physical activity and certain dietary patterns, including high saturated fatty acid and low vegetable intake, contribute to weight gain and increase the risk of metabolic disturbances (2,3), whereas such potentially modifiable lifestyle factors may reduce cardiovascular risk.Metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent in the U.S. with an estimated 24% of the adult population affected (4). The National Cholesterol Education Program (5) defined metabolic syndrome based on several parameters including anthropometric measurements. However, anthropometric cutoffs to identify high-risk subjects may be influenced by ethnicity (6,7). Based on the fact that in Asian populations morbidity and mortality are occurring in people with ...

Relationship between number of metabolic syndrome components and dietary factors in middle-aged and elderly Japanese subjects

“…In previous epidemiologic studies, dietary fiber, fruits, vegetables and moderate alcohol intake were negatively associated [22][23][24] and fat and red meat were positively associated [25][26][27] with MetS in Caucasian or Japanese-Brazilian subjects. Consistent with previous studies, 22,24,28 intake of dietary fiber in men was negatively related to clustering MetS components.…”

Food consumption, nutrient intake and the risk of having metabolic syndrome: the DR's EXTRA Study

“…The amount of fish consumption in the middle third was close to the nutrition recommendations (American Diabetes Association et al, 2008). A previous cross-sectional study in middle-aged men found an inverse association of fish consumption with MetS (Ruidavets et al, 2007), whereas no such association was found in Japanese Brazilians (Freire et al, 2005). However, a high fish consumption and intake of n-3 fatty acids have been found to prevent cardiovascular diseases and metabolic risk factors (Carpentier et al, 2006;Hu et al, 2002) by their favourable effects on insulin resistance, blood pressure and serum concentrations of triacylglycerols, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, as well as endothelial function, inflammation status and antioxidant defences (Carpentier et al, 2006).…”

“…Cross-sectional studies have found that a high consumption of vegetables (Esmaillzadeh et al, 2006), fish (Ruidavets et al, 2007), dairy products (Ruidavets et al, 2007) and whole-grain products (McKeown et al, 2004) is associated with a decreased risk of having MetS and a high consumption of meat (Ruidavets et al, 2007) is associated with an increased risk of having MetS. However, some cross-sectional studies have not observed the inverse association of the consumption of vegetables (Ruidavets et al, 2007) and fish (Freire et al, 2005) with MetS. In a large prospective study, a high consumption of meat was associated with an increased risk of developing MetS, whereas a high consumption of dairy products was associated with a reduced risk (Lutsey et al, 2008).…”

A behavioral intervention in a cohort of Japanese-Brazilians at high cardiometabolic risk

“…The changes in physical activity may not have been strong enough to induce an increase in HDL-cholesterol levels. Given the harmful effect of fat intake on cardiometabolic profi le in this population, as previously shown by our group, 3,4 the study dietary counseling strongly advocated a reduction in food consumption rich in fat. This could have resulted in a relative increase in carbohydrate intake which might have contributed to increased triglyceride levels.…”

“…7 High fat intake was associated with metabolic syndrome among Japanese-Brazilians in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. 3,4 The present study aimed to assess the effect of a 1-year community-based health promotion program in a population of JapaneseBrazilians by comparing their cardiometabolic profi le before and after the intervention.…”