Abstract
Objectives
Several epidemiological studies have examined the association between fish and dietary fish oil intake and metabolic syndrome in a population. However, few studies have investigated fish and dietary fish oil intake and its association with the risk of metabolic syndrome in the Korean population.
Methods
Using data from the 2013–2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a total of 14,519 adults (6,135 men and 8,384 women) aged ≥ 19 years were involved in this study. Dietary intakes of fish and fish oil including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were estimated by a 24-h dietary recall. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. The odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of metabolic syndrome according to the tertile of fish and fish oil intakes were calculated using a multiple logistic regression model.
Results
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among the participants was 9.18%. The mean intake (standard error, SE) of fish, EPA and DHA was 123.35 (2.67) g/day, 103.43 (2.48) mg/day and 179.21 (4.75) mg/day for the study participants, respectively. Dietary intakes of fish and fish oil were not associated with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, however, they were associated with the prevalence of several metabolic abnormalities. Men in the highest tertile of energy adjusted DHA intake from fish showed a 20% decreased risk of hypertriglyceridemia (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67–0.96, p for trend, 0.0274), compared with those in the lowest tertile. However, Women in the highest tertile of fish intake showed a higher prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.24–2.33) than those in the lowest tertile.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that a higher intake of dietary fish oil might be associated with a lower risk of hypertriglyceridemia in Korean men. Thus, further prospective studies are needed to examine the association of fish and fish oil with metabolic syndrome.
Funding Sources
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (NRF-2018R1A2B6007070) and the National Institute of Fisheries Science (R2019051).
Editorial on the research topic: celebrating 100 years of modern
fisheries science research in Korea
