Habitual and meal-specific carbohydrate quality index and their relation to metabolic syndrome in a sample of Iranian adults
Abstract Objective: Most studies on diet quality have focused on the habitual and overall intake of foods without considering intakes at specific eating occasions. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between habitual and meal-specific carbohydrate quality index (CQI) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Iranian adults.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from 850 participants were analyzed. Dietary information was obtained from a 3-day non-consecutive 24 hours recall. CQI was calculated from three criteria: dietary fiber, glycemic index, and solid carbohydrate/available carbohydrate ratio. The association between CQI and MetS was assessed by logistic regression.Results: The prevalence of MetS in the lowest and highest tertile of CQI were 30.1 and 33.7, respectively (P=0.6). We identified, the trend of elevated FBG with CQI in dinner meal was statistically significant. In habitual diet and all three meals, we failed to find any significant association between tertiles of CQI and MetS either before or after adjustment for covariates.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that CQI was not associated with MetS and its components. Further investigations into the mechanisms underlying the role of carbohydrate quality in developing metabolic disorders are warranted.