Diet quality scores and oxidative stress in Korean adults

Background/Objectives: The purpose of diet-quality indices is to assess and guide individual dietary intake for the promotion of health and prevention of disease, and food based dietary-quality indices need to be applied by using each country's own unique diet. We assessed the relationships between relatively simple dietary quality scores modified for a Korean diet, such as the Recommended Food Score (RFS) and alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMDS), and oxidative stress biomarkers in Korean adults. Subjects/Methods: A total of 976 adults were recruited for the Biomarker Monitoring for Environmental Health Study between April and December 2005 in Seoul and Incheon, Korea. RFS and aMDS were calculated by using a food-frequency questionnaire. We used regression analyses to assess the associations between diet quality scores and urinary malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG). Results: RFS and aMDS were negatively associated with urinary MDA concentrations (P = 0.032 for RFS, P = 0.043 for aMDS), but not with 8-OHdG after adjusted for potential covariates. After stratified analyses by sex, negative associations between the both scores and urinary MDA concentrations were not significant in both men and women. There were no significant associations of RFS and aMDS with urinary 8-OHdG concentrations. Conclusions: Higher RFS and aMDS scores were related to lower oxidative stress. Therefore, good quality of diet may be useful in reducing oxidative stress. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2011) 65, 1271-1278; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.120; published online 29 June 2011