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Diet quality and 6‐year risk of overweight and obesity among mid‐age Australian women who were initially in the healthy weight range
Author(s) -
Aljadani Haya M.,
Patterson Amanda J.,
Sibbritt David,
Collins Clare E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he14070
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , obesity , body mass index , odds ratio , demography , epidemiology , confidence interval , longitudinal study , logistic regression , incidence (geometry) , gerontology , environmental health , physics , pathology , sociology , optics
Issue addressed The present study investigated the association between diet quality, measured using the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS), and 6‐year risk of becoming overweight or obese in mid‐age women from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH). Methods Women (n = 1107) aged 47.6–55.8 years who were a healthy weight (body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and <25.0 kg m‐2) at baseline and who reported valid total energy intakes were included in the study. BMI was calculated from selfreported data in 2001 and 2007. ARFS scores were calculated from data collected using the Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies Version 2. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between ARFS score as a continuous variable and risk of becoming overweight or obese. Results The 6‐year incidence of overweight and obesity was 18.5% and 1.1%, respectively. The mean (± s.d.) ARFS (maximum possible 74) among those who remained within the healthy weight range and those who became overweight or obese at follow‐up was 35.3 ± 8.1 and 34.3 ± 8.8, respectively. There was no relationship between baseline ARFS and risk of becoming overweight or obese over 6 years. Women who were smokers were more likely to become overweight or obese (odds ratio 1.5; 95% confidence interval 1.11–2.09; P = 0.008). Conclusions Poor diet quality was common among mid‐age women of a healthy weight in the ALSWH. Higher diet quality was not associated with the risk of overweight or obesity after 6 years, yet smoking status was. So what? Better diet quality alone will not achieve maintenance of a healthy weight, but should be encouraged to improve other health outcomes.