Association between dietary glycaemic load and selected demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors in a group of adult Poles in Lower Silesia – results of the PURE Poland study

Introduction. There is a strong association between the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and low socio-economic status (SES). It is interesting to consider whether high dietary glycaemic load (GL) is also associated with low SES or demographic factors. Objective. The aim of the study is to assess the relationship between dietary GL and demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors in a selected population of Polish adults in Lower Silesia. Materials and method. The study group consisted of 2,025 Polish adults (aged 35–70 years), enrolled in the 1st stage of the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study. Nutritional data were collected using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), which was developed and validated for the Polish population in Lower Silesia. The overall GL of each diet was computed as a sum of GL values of consumed foods. Results. Significantly higher GL and GL/1,000 kcal were observed in the diets of males compared to females and in the diets of rural compared to urban inhabitants. An adverse relationship between both GL and GL/1,000 kcal and level of education was found. The percentage of females, urban inhabitants, people with university education and not married decreased with quartiles of the overall dietary GL and GL/1,000 kcal. The percentage of former smokers, people who never used alcohol and people with low and moderate physical activity decreased with quartiles of GL and GL/1,000 kcal. Lower percentage of individuals aged 44–64 years was observed with quartiles of the overall dietary GL. Conclusions. Factors such as: male gender, rural place of residence, low level of education and smoking determine the group of people that is the most exposed on the effects of improper nutrition, according to the low quality and/or high amount of carbohydrates defined by GL and GL per 1,000 kcal.