Selected Dietary Nutrients and the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Adult Males and Females in Saudi Arabia: A Pilot Study

Abstract

During the last decade, the rapid economic development in Saudi Arabia resulted in an unbalanced dietary intake pattern within the general population. Consequently, metabolic syndrome was also documented to be highly prevalent in the Middle-East region. We aimed to examine the relationship between selected dietary nutrient intakes and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the general adult population of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In this cross-sectional study, 185 adult Saudis aged 19 to 60 years (87 males and 98 females (mean age 35.6 ± 13.2 and 37.6 ± 11.7 years, respectively)) were included. The criteria for metabolic syndrome were based on the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) criteria, and the dietary food intake was assessed by two 24-h dietary recall methods. The odd ratios (ORs) of metabolic syndrome risk across quartiles of selected dietary nutrients were significantly lower for carbohydrates and proteins, as well as for vitamins A, C, E and K, calcium, zinc and magnesium (p < 0.05 for all) in the female group with metabolic syndrome than those without. The pattern of daily dietary intake of selected nutrients among the general population of Saudi Arabia raises concern, and this dietary imbalance could increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, particularly in adult Saudi females.

Dietary Magnesium Intake and Metabolic Syndrome in the Adult Population: Dose-Response Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

“…We identified 10 articles, including nine [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 34 ] that investigated the association between dietary magnesium intake and metabolic syndrome and one article [ 33 ] that reported results separately for gender (men and women).…”

Lower Plasma Levels of Antioxidant Vitamins in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: A Case Control Study

“…In the literature there are studies indicating a reduced plasma level of vitamin A, C and E in these patients [31,[38][39][40].…”

Magnesium status and the metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Another study did not represent data on OR of MetS based on Mg intake, therefore the authors were asked about data by three Emails separated at least by one week, and the authors could not provide the needed data therefore we also included this article in the systematic review but not in the meta-analysis too [44]. The flow diagram of the study selection process is presented in Among the reviewed articles, 5 were conducted in the United States [43,[45][46][47][48], 2 in Greece [34,37], 2 in Mexico [25,39], one in Australia [26], China [24], Taiwan [22], Italy [23], Brazil [40] South Korea [49], Saudi Arabia [50] and 3 in Iran [38,44,51] (Tables 1 and 2).…”

“…7 of full-text articles excluded because included were done in participants with PCOS [27], cardiac syndrome [28], diabetes mellitus [29][30][31] and morbid obesity [32] or did not assessed the magnesium content of the whole diet [33] Studies included in quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis). 9 included for the association between dietary magnesium and MetS [22,23,36,45,47,[49][50][51][52], 8 included for the association between serum magnesium levels and MetS [24-26, 34, 37-40] 2 studies removed because did not represent ORs for the association between magnesium intake and MetS [43,44]…”

“…respectively. Totally 9 articles with 31876 participants were included in the meta-analysis regarding the association between dietary Mg intake and MetS[22,23,36,45,47,[49][50][51][52]. The results of our analysis showed that higher consumption of Mg is associated with lower risk of MetS (OR=0.73, CI: 0.62, 0.86, P<0.001) (Figure 2).…”