Diet Quality and Adiposity in Adolescents

While diet quality of adolescents is consistently reported as poor, few studies examine the relationship of their diet to obesity. This study investigated the relationship of diet quality and adiposity, measured by waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI). Participants were 16‐year olds: 62 female, 40 male; 67 white, 28 African‐American, 7 other race. Dietary intake was obtained from 1 to 3 diet recalls using the Nutrition Data System for Research. Data were converted into Healthy Eating Index‐2010 (HEI) scores (0‐100) to assess diet quality. HEI considers 12 dietary components. Differences in diet between obese (BMI 蠅 95 th percentile for age; WC 蠅 90 th percentile for age) versus non‐obese participants were determined by ANOVA. Relationships of diet with BMI and WC were examined by linear regression. Significance was set at p<0.05. Mean HEI was 47.5, SD±10.7. No significant differences in HEI were found between obese and non‐obese groups. In those with BMI 蠅 95 th percentile for age (n=17), sweetened beverage (sweetened water, tea, coffee, soft drinks, and fruit‐flavored drinks) consumption was higher and fruit intake lower. HEI was not significantly related to WC, but was negatively related to BMI in non‐African American participants only. Fruit was negatively related to WC and BMI. Sweetened beverages were positively related to BMI. Dietary fiber was negatively related to WC in females only. Inadequate fruit and excessive sweetened beverage consumption are related to adiposity in this sample of adolescents. This research was supported by funding from NIH (1R01HD078346).