Low Rice Intake Is Associated with Proteinuria in Participants of Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Little is known about the risk factors of proteinuria in the Asian population. On the basis of the association between rice intake patterns and chronic diseases, we hypothesized that rice intake patterns are associated with proteinuria in the Asian population. Data, including data regarding rice intake frequency and dipstick urinalysis results, from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 1998, 2001, 2005, and 2007 were analyzed. The study involved 19,824 participants who were older than 20 years of age. Low rice intake was defined as consumption of rice ≤ 1 time/day. Proteinuria was defined as dipstick urinalysis protein ≥ 1 positive. Among the 19,824 participants, the prevalence of low rice intake and proteinuria were 17.3% and 2.9%, respectively. The low rice intake group showed a higher rate of proteinuria than the non-low rice intake group did (3.8% vs. 2.7%, P < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio (OR) of low rice intake for proteinuria was 1.54 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25–1.89; P < 0.001). Low rice intake was also independently associated with high blood pressure (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.31–1.56; P < 0.001) and diabetes (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.27–1.62; P < 0.001). In conclusion, low rice intake was found to be independently associated with proteinuria in the Asian population, which might have been affected by the associations of low rice intake with high blood pressure and diabetes. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm the results of this study.