The Relationship between Dietary Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio and Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults: Using Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2015

ABSTRACT

Background@#The dietary sodium-to-potassium ratio (NaK) is known to have a stronger association with cardiovascular disease compared with a single intake of sodium or potassium. Accordingly, this study sought to examine the relationship between sodium-potassium intake balance and metabolic syndrome, which increases the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. @*Methods@#Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2015 were used, and the subjects were 13,164 adults aged 19 years and over. This study examined sodium and potassium intake and NaK based on Korean adults' age and sex, and analyzed food groups that contribute to adequate sodium and potassium intake based on an NaK of 1. Correlations between NaK, metabolic syndrome, and risk factors were examined through a multiple logistic regression analysis. @*Results@#Korean adults' average daily intake of sodium was 3,976 mg, while that of potassium was 3,076 mg.Meanwhile, the NaK was identified to be 2.33. The food group that contributed the most to potassium intake was fruits in subjects whose NaK was below 1, and vegetables in those whose NaK was over 1. Compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartile in NaK was up 19% in the probability that one would suffer from metabolic syndrome (P for trend=0.001). Also, more NaK led to a significant increase in the risk of elevated blood pressure and elevated blood sugar (P for trend=0.015 and 0.012). @*Conclusions@#A rise in NaK is related to a risk of hypertension and high blood sugar, and such a rise raises the prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome.