Breakfast eating patterns and the metabolic syndrome: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2007-2009

Objective: The purpose of this study is to find out the association between eating breakfast, breakfast patterns, and the metabolic syndrome. Methods: We used the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. A total of 16,734 subjects were included. Breakfast dietary patterns were extracted by factor analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between breakfast consumption, breakfast dietary patterns, and the metabolic syndrome. Results: We found that breakfast consumption itself reduced the risk of the metabolic syndrome (odds ratio=0.82, 95% confidence interval=0.69-0.98). We identified two breakfast dietary patterns: the traditional Korean pattern and the dairy-cereal pattern. The dairy-cereal pattern was associated with a reduction in the risk of the metabolic syndrome among breakfast consumers. Compared to no breakfast consumption, the strongest traditional Korean pattern and the highest quartiles for the dairy-cereal pattern were associated with a reduced risk of the metabolic syndrome. Conclusions: Breakfast consumption is associated with the metabolic syndrome. Not all breakfast consumption patterns are associated with a reduced risk of having the metabolic syndrome. In particular, eating either a dairy-cereal breakfast or high energy and fiber breakfast are associated with a reduced risk of the metabolic syndrome.