Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the quality of diet measured by Healthy Eating Index (HEI) between individuals with and without metabolic syndrome. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed in Tehran and consisted of 103 overweight and obese individuals (52 cases and 51 controls) within age range of 20 to 55 years. Case and control were matched for age and sex. The NCEP ATPIII criteria were used for identifying metabolic syndrome. Appropriate instruments were used for anthropometric measurement of weight, height and waist circumference. The participants were asked to record their food consumption of three days (two week days and one weekend day) and technical report was used to calculate HEI-2005. Independent t-test was used to compare Healthy Eating Index. Results: There was no significant difference between case and control groups for mean of HEI (p-value=0.1). Mean score of whole fruit consumption in control group was significantly higher than case group (p-value=0.04). Mean score of oil consumption (p-value=0.03) and saturated fat consumption (p-value=0.05) in case group were significantly higher than control group. Conclusion: The comparison of HEI between overweight/obese individuals with and without metabolic syndrome in this study shows that the quality of diet in both groups needs to be improved.

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome, Obesity, Healthy Eating Index

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