Dietary carbohydrate intake is associated with cardiovascular disease risk in Korean: analysis of the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES III).
BACKGROUND
It is widely recognized that dietary factors play important roles in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We evaluated the association between carbohydrate intake and CVD risk factors, using data from the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES III).


METHODS
A nationally representative sample of Korean adults (1536 men, 2235 women), aged 20 to 69 years, was divided into three groups according to carbohydrate intake (% of energy), based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI, 55-70% of energy) for Koreans. Then, we examined whether excessive carbohydrate intake was related to CVD risk factors.


RESULTS
Mean carbohydrate intake (% of energy) was 72.8% (321 g/day), above the DRI for Korean adults (55-70%). A high carbohydrate intake (>70% of energy) was associated with higher BMI, blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and LDL-cholesterol levels in women. After adjusting for covariates, such as age, energy intake, alcohol consumption, smoking status, and physical activity, high carbohydrate intakes (>70% of energy) were significantly associated with diabetes mellitus and low HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) in women. In men, however, only total cholesterol was inversely associated with high carbohydrate intake.


CONCLUSIONS
Higher carbohydrate intakes than the DRI for Koreans were significantly associated with diabetes mellitus and low HDL-C levels in women. These results suggest that improvement of dietary patterns may be an important approach to the prevention of CVD in Korean women.
Park
Sung-Hee
SH
Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Center for Biomedical Sciences, National Institute of Health, Seoul 122-701, South Korea.
Lee
Kwang-Soo
KS
Park
Hyun-Young
HY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000639:trends*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates