Sahar Saraf-Bank - Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Fahimeh Haghighatdoost - Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Ahmad Esmaillzadeh - Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran, Iran
Bagher Larijani - Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular -Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Background and Aim: Nowadays, metabolic syndrome (MetS) is deemed as a major public health challenge in both developed and developing countries. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the association between HEI-2010 score and MetS and its features among Iranian female nurses.Methods: This cross sectional study was performed among 1036 Iranian women. A validated, self-administered, dish-based, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the habitual intake of participants. HEI-2010 score was used to assess diet quality of participants. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on the guidelines of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III). Multivariate logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders was used to assess the relation between HEI-2010 and metabolic syndrome. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the highest quartile of HEI-2010 had the lowest risk of metabolic syndrome compared with those in the first quartile (OR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.50-0.96). Furthermore, the risk of metabolic syndrome features including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high serum triacylglycerol and low serum HDL-C significantly decreased across HEI-2010 quartiles (p<0.05).Conclusion: Higher HEI-2010 scores were inversely associated with lower risk of metabolic syndrome and its components among Iranian women.

healthy eating index-2010, metabolic syndrome, females, Iran