The research engaged 2071 participants aged between 26 to 36 years old to report their dietary behaviors like how often they removed visible fat from meat, their intake of low-fat dairy products, and how frequently they used different cooking fats, from 2004 to 2006. The participants also had their blood pressure, weight, and height measured, while a fasting blood sample was taken to create a continuous metabolic syndrome (cMetSyn) score using sex-specific principal component analysis applied to normalized risk factors. This cMetSyn score is designed to depict higher risks with higher scores.

The findings showed that the mean cMetSyn score had positive correlations with those participants who consumed low-fat oily dressings and used canola or sunflower oil for cooking. Interestingly, the researchers found no significant associations between the cMetSyn score and the behaviors of trimming fat from meat, cooking with olive oil or butter, or taking low-fat dairy products. This indicates that metabolic risk among young adults does not necessarily correlate with compliance to traditional fat-related dietary recommendations.