Instant noodle consumption is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors among college students in Seoul

Abstract

Background/objectives: Increased consumption of instant noodles has recently been reported to be positively associated with obesity and cardiometabolic syndrome in South Korea, which has the highest per capita instant noodle consumption worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the association between instant noodle consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors among college students in Seoul.

Subjects/methods: The study subjects consisted of 3,397 college students (1,782 male; 1,615 female) aged 18-29 years who participated in a health checkup. Information on instant noodle consumption was obtained from the participants' answers to a question about their average frequency of instant noodle intake over the 1 year period prior to the survey.

Results: Statistical analysis using a general linear model that adjusted for age, body mass index, gender, family income, health-related behaviors, and other dietary factors important for cardiometabolic risk, showed a positive association between the frequency of instant noodle consumption and plasma triglyceride levels, diastolic blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose levels in all subjects. Compared to the group with the lowest frequency of instant noodle intake (≤ 1/month), the odds ratio for hypertriglyceridemia in the group with an intake of ≥ 3/week was 2.639 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.393-5.000] for all subjects, while it was 2.149 (95% CI, 1.045-4.419) and 5.992 (95% CI, 1.859-21.824) for male and female students, respectively. In female students, diastolic blood pressure was also higher among more frequent consumers of instant noodles.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that frequent consumption of instant noodles may be associated with increased cardiometabolic risk factors among apparently healthy college students aged 18-29 years.

Keywords: Overweight; blood pressure; hypertriglyceridemia; metabolic factors.

Fig. 1. Number of metabolic syndrome components according to the frequency of instant noodle consumption in all subjects.

Reference values for MS components according to the Adult Treatment Panel III of the National Cholesterol Education Program (abdominal obesity: males ≥ 90 cm WC, females ≥ 85 cm; elevated blood pressure: SBP ≥ 130 mmHg or DBP ≥ 85 mmHg, hyperglycemia: FBS ≥ 100 mg/dL, hypertriglycemia: TG ≥ 150 mg/dL, low HDL cholesterol: males < 40 mg/dL, females < 50 mg/dL). MS, metabolic syndrome; WC, waist circumference; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; FBS, fasting blood glucose; TG, triglycerides. P-value by χ² test.