Glycemic load is associated with HDL cholesterol but not with the other components and prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994

Table 3 Multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for metabolic syndrome according to intakes of glycemic load in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994¹

	Energy-adjusted glycemic load²
	Quartile 1 ³ (< 119)	Quartile 2 (119 – 157)	Quartile 3 (157 – 204)	Quartile 4 (≥ 204)	P value ⁴
Positive for metabolic syndrome, n (%)	212 (4.2)	218 (4.4)	239 (4.8)	274 (5.5)
Age, sex, and race-ethnicity adjusted	1.00	0.99 (0.75, 1.29)	1.22 (0.91, 1.63)	0.83 (0.62, 1.10)	0.21
Multivariate-adjusted⁵	1.00	0.96 (0.61, 1.50)	1.37 (0.88, 2.12)	0.81 (0.53, 1.23)	0.09

¹ n = 5011 (men, 3047, women, 1964). Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines (waist circumference >40 inches for men and >35 inches for women, triacylglycerol <150 mg/dL (1.69 mmol/L) for both sexes, HDL-cholesterol <40 mg/dL (1.04 mmol/L) for men and <50 mg/dL (1.29 mmol/L) for women, blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mm Hg for both sexes, and fasting blood glucose ≥ 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) for both sexes.
² Glycemic load is the product of the glycemic index of a food item and carbohydrate intake from that food in g divided by 100.
³ Referent category.
⁴ Significance of metabolic syndrome indicator variable in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (P for Wald F).
⁵ Logistic regression was adjusted for sex, age, race-ethnicity, smoking status, poverty income ratio, prescription medication use, vitamin/mineral supplement use, and intakes of alcohol, protein, fat, and dietary fiber.