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“When it Comes to Diet, I Know What I'm Doing Wrong” Perception of Diet Quality Is Inversely Associated With Body Weight in US Adults
Author(s) -
Nouri Renee,
Vernarelli Jacqueline A
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.902.14
Subject(s) - national health and nutrition examination survey , overweight , medicine , body mass index , obesity , gerontology , demography , population , public health , environmental health , endocrinology , nursing , sociology
The obesity epidemic continues to challenge researchers and public health officials in the US. Health agencies put a substantial focus on making dietary recommendations understandable in hopes of improving diet quality and reducing the obesity epidemic at the population level, however little is known regarding how well the public understands dietary recommendations. The objective of this study was to be able to determine the relationship between perceptions of diet quality and body weight status in US adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18.5–24.9 BMI is considered normal or healthy, where 25.09–29.9 BMI is overweight, and 30.0 and above is considered obese. Data from a nationally representative sample of 10,173 participants in a 2009–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) was used for this study. During the NHANES, participants were asked to self‐report diet quality. Height and weight were measured by trained examiners during the NHANES, and body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2 ) was calculated as a measure of body weight status. All data were analyzed using appropriate survey weights and procedures in SAS 9.3. An inverse association was observed between self‐reported diet quality and BMI (p‐trend, <0.0001). Obese individuals were more likely to categorize their diet to be “fair” or “poor” than lean individuals (OR 5.2, 95% CI 1.2 – 9.8) after controlling for age, sex, race, education, smoking status, and income level. Individuals who reported their diet to be “poor” had a significantly higher BMI compared to people who reported an “excellent” diet (32.3 vs. 26.0; p<0.0001) after adjusting for the same cofactors. These findings indicate that individuals may be understand dietary recommendations but are not able to put recommendations into practice. Future research should focus on methods to educate individuals on how to apply dietary recommendations. Support or Funding Information None. 1Mean Adjusted BMI (kg/m2) by self‐reported diet qualtiy. Participants described their diet on a 5‐ point likert scale.