Dietary and Health Characteristics of Korean Adults According to the Level of Energy Intake from Carbohydrate: Analysis of the 7th (2016–2017) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the level of energy intake from carbohydrate and the dietary and health characteristics among Korean adults. We examined the diet quality and health conditions of Korean adults by segmenting them into eight groups according to the level of energy intake from carbohydrate (<45%, 45-50%, 50-55%, 55-60%, 60-65%, 65-70%, 70-75%, and >75%). From the data of the 7th (2016-2017) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), 7566 subjects aged 19 to 64 years were analyzed. Diet quality was much lower in the groups whose energy intake from carbohydrate was <50% or >65%, compared to the groups whose energy intake from carbohydrate was 50-65%. Hypertension or low HDL-cholesterolemia was associated with low (<45%) or high (>70%) energy intake from carbohydrate. We found no considerable difference in the diet quality and health conditions between the groups whose energy intake from carbohydrate was 50-55% and 55-65%. In conclusion, it is suggested to expand the current acceptable macronutrient distribution range (AMDR) for carbohydrate for Korean adults (i.e., 55% to 65%) to include 50-55%.