Article
Dietary Variety Is Inversely Associated with Body Adiposity among US Adults Using a Novel Food Diversity Index.pdf
The Journal of Nutrition
(2014)
Abstract
Background: Consuming a variety (vs. monotony) of energy-poor, nutrient-dense foods may help individuals adhere to
dietary patterns favorably associated with weight control.
Objective: The objective of this study was to examine whether greater healthful food variety quantified using the US
Healthy Food Diversity (HFD) index favorably influenced body adiposity.
Methods: Men and nonpregnant, nonlactating women aged $20 y with two 24-h recalls from the cross-sectional NHANES
2003–2006 (n = 7470) were included in this study. Dietary recalls were merged with the MyPyramid Equivalent database to
generate the US HFD index, which ranges from 0 to ;1, with higher scores indicative of diets with a higher number and
proportion of healthful foods. Multiple indicators of adiposity including BMI, waist-to-height ratio, android-to-gynoid fat ratio,
fat mass index (FMI), and percentage body fat were assessed across US HFD index quintiles. ORs and 95% CIs were
computed with use of multivariable logistic regression (SAS v. 9.3).
Results: The US HFD index was inversely associated with most adiposity indicators in both sexes. After multivariable
adjustment, the odds of obesity, android-to-gynoid ratio >1, and high FMI were 31–55% lower (P-trend < 0.01) among
women in quintile 5 vs. quintile 1 of the US HFD index. Among men, the odds of obesity, waist-to-height ratio $0.5, and
android-to-gynoid ratio >1 were 40–48% lower (P-trend # 0.01) in quintile 5 vs. quintile 1 of the US HFD index.
Conclusions: Higher US HFD index values were inversely associated with indicators of body adiposity in both sexes,
indicating that greater healthful food variety may protect against excess adiposity. This study explicitly recognizes the
potential benefits of dietary variety in obesity management and provides the foundation to support its ongoing
evaluation.
Keywords
- dietary variety,
- dietary diversity,
- healthy food diversity,
- healthy variety,
- obesity,
- body adiposity
Disciplines
Publication Date
December 31, 2014
DOI
10.3945/jn.114.199067
Citation Information
Maya Vadiveloo, L. Beth Dixon, Tod Mijanovich, Brian Elbel, et al.. "Dietary Variety Is Inversely Associated with Body Adiposity among US Adults Using a Novel Food Diversity Index.pdf" The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 145 (2014) p. 555 - 563 ISSN: 1541-6100 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/maya-vadiveloo/2/