A Vegetables and Fish Dietary Pattern Is Positively Associated with Skeletal Muscle Mass in Korean Men

Abstract

Isolating the effects of a single nutrient or food in relation to health outcomes including increased skeletal muscle mass is a challenging task because dietary constituents are highly correlated and synergistic. Hence, diet pattern analysis may be used to investigate the role of certain diets in health outcomes. The present study investigated the dietary patterns and their relationship to skeletal muscle mass in Korean adults. Data were extracted from the 2008–2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. To explore the dietary patterns of the study subjects, factor analysis was performed using data obtained from a 24-hour recall. The skeletal muscle index according to dietary pattern scores was then investigated to estimate the changes in skeletal muscle mass. Three patterns were initially identified from the factor analysis. Of these vegetables and fish (VF) pattern was the primary factor with high reliability and was a common factor in sex-separated analyses. The VF pattern scores were positively associated with increased skeletal muscle mass in both men and women. Further analysis according to quartile levels of VF pattern scores showed a positive association between skeletal muscle mass and VF pattern in men but not in women. These results suggest that dietary patterns focused on vegetables and seafoods may contribute to increased skeletal muscle mass in Korean men but that sex difference should be considered in nutrition care for skeletal muscle health.

Identification of Dietary Pattern Networks Associated with Gastric Cancer Using Gaussian Graphical Models: A Case-Control Study

“…The Western pattern was positively associated with cancer, especially in females [22]. Although the studies were not related to GC, the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHNES) from 2008 to 2011 observed that a vegetable and fish dietary pattern was positively associated with skeletal muscle mass in Korean men [23]. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the associations of dietary intake with cardiovascular disease in a Korean population summarized that adherence to a healthy dietary pattern (a rice-based or traditional pattern) showed borderline relationships with a decreased risk of elevated total cholesterol and elevated triglycerides [24].…”

The association of dietary patterns with muscle mass and strength in old age: The Hordaland Health Study

“…Using an absolute cut-off value of ≥ 3 resulted in no overlap in foods with high factor loadings across the identified dietary patterns, which in turn simplified labelling and facilitated interpretation of the dietary patterns. However, an absolute cut-off value of ≥ 2 has also frequently been used to define foods as important contributors to a dietary pattern [ 33 , 40 – 42 ]. Positive effect estimates for the ‘Western’ and ‘Sweets-focused’ dietary patterns in our study may thus partly be explained by overlap in foods with factor loadings ≥ 2 across the dietary patterns.…”