The Roles of Meat and Sweeteners in Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia in South Korea

Background: In the past 40–50 years, rates of metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus (DM), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and dementia in South Korea have risen dramatically in associ-ation with the transition from the traditional Korean diet to the Western dietary pattern. This article tries to ascertain which food groups were most responsible. Methods: An eco-logical study approach was used to find correlations between food groups and disease outcomes by using data from the Korean Food Balance Sheet 2023 and disease incidence, prevalence, and/or mortality rates with a variable delay between dietary supply data and disease outcomes. In addition, the journal literature was searched to find studies discuss-ing links between food groups and those diseases. Results: In general, meat and sweeten-ers had the highest correlations with the diseases. The ecological study analysis indicated a lag of 6–7 years between food groups and DM, and 20 years for AD and dementia. The journal literature supported those findings. The literature also reported that poultry had little effect on risk of DM, whereas tree nuts, oily fish, dairy products, and healthful plant-based diets reduced risk. The literature also supports vitamin D’s role in reducing risk of those diseases. Conclusion: Those findings suggest that risk and prevalence of the diseases could be significantly reduced by reducing meat and sweeteners in the diet and eating more healthful foods as well as by increasing concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D.