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Dietary patterns and weight change: 15-year longitudinal study in Australian adults

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Abstract

Background

Dietary intake is one of the most modifiable risk factors associated with obesity. However, data on the relationship between dietary patterns and long-term weight change are limited.

Purpose

We therefore investigated the association between dietary patterns and 15-year weight change in a sample of 1186 Australian adults (1992–2007).

Methods

We measured body weight and collected data on socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics in 1992 and 2007. Applying principal component analysis to 38 food groups from a food frequency questionnaire collected at baseline, we identified two dietary patterns: ‘meat-and-fat’ and ‘fruit-and-vegetable.’ Using generalized estimating equations, multivariable regression models, stratified by sex, were adjusted for concurrent changes in socio-demographic and lifestyle variables.

Results

The average increase in body weight of men in the highest tertile of the meat-and-fat pattern was more than twice that of men in the lowest tertile; mean weight change (95 % CI): 4.8 (−0.1, 9.7) kg versus 2.3 (−2.6, 7.1) kg, P-for-trend = 0.02. In contrast, average weight gain of men in the highest tertile of the fruit-and-vegetable pattern was only about half that of men in the lowest tertile; mean weight change (95 % CI): 2.9 (−2.0, 7.8) kg versus 5.4 (−1.5, 10.4) kg, P-for-trend = 0.02. Among women, dietary patterns were not related to weight change.

Conclusions

These dietary patterns predict change in body weight in men, but not in women. In this cohort, a dietary pattern high in fruit and vegetables was related to less weight gain in men than a dietary pattern high in meat and fat.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participants for their long-term commitment to this study. We also thank Mr. Robert Hughes and A/Prof. Geoffrey Marks, for their contributions to collection of dietary and anthropometric data, and Professor Adѐle Green for making the Nambour Study data available for these analyses. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, PHRDC Program Grant No. 922068, NHMRC Project Grant No. 442976, and NHMRC Program Grant No. 552429.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer and Population Studies, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Locked Bag 2000, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, 4029, Australia

    Simin Arabshahi, Torukiri I. Ibiebele, Maria Celia B. Hughes, Petra H. Lahmann & Jolieke C. van der Pols

  2. The University of Queensland, School of Public Health, Herston, QLD, 4006, Australia

    Simin Arabshahi, Petra H. Lahmann, Gail M. Williams & Jolieke C. van der Pols

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  1. Simin Arabshahi
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Correspondence to Simin Arabshahi.

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Arabshahi, S., Ibiebele, T.I., Hughes, M.C.B. et al. Dietary patterns and weight change: 15-year longitudinal study in Australian adults. Eur J Nutr 56, 1455–1465 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-016-1191-3

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