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Clustering eating habits: frequent consumption of different dietary patterns among the Italian general population in the association with obesity, physical activity, sociocultural characteristics and psychological factors

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

(a) To identify clusters of eating patterns among the Italian population aged 15–64 years, focusing on typical Mediterranean diet (Med-diet) items consumption; (b) to examine the distribution of eating habits, as identified clusters, among age classes and genders; (c) evaluate the impact of: belonging to a specific eating cluster, level of physical activity (PA), sociocultural and psychological factors, as elements determining weight abnormalities.

Methods

Data for this cross-sectional study were collected using self-reporting questionnaires administered to a sample of 33,127 subjects participating in the Italian population survey on alcohol and other drugs (IPSAD®2011). The cluster analysis was performed on a subsample (n = 5278 subjects) which provided information on eating habits, and adapted to identify categories of eating patterns. Stepwise multinomial regression analysis was performed to evaluate the associations between weight categories and eating clusters, adjusted for the following background variables: PA levels, sociocultural and psychological factors.

Results

Three clusters were identified: “Mediterranean-like”, “Western-like” and “low fruit/vegetables”. Frequent consumption of Med-diet patterns was more common among females and elderly. The relationship between overweight/obesity and male gender, educational level, PA, depression and eating disorders (p < 0.05) was confirmed. Belonging to a cluster other than “Mediterranean-like” was significantly associated with obesity.

Conclusion

The low consumption of Med-diet patterns among youth, and the frequent association of sociocultural, psychological issues and inappropriate lifestyle with overweight/obesity, highlight the need for an interdisciplinary approach including market policies, to promote a wider awareness of the Mediterranean eating habit benefits in combination with an appropriate lifestyle.

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Abbreviations

AIC:

Akaike information criterion

BIC:

Bayesian information criteria

BMI:

Body mass index

CAGE:

The name of the questionnaire is an acronym of its four questions:

Have you ever felt you needed to cut down on your drinking? (cut down)

Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking? (annoyed)

Have you ever felt guilty about drinking? (guilty)

Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover? (eye-opener)

CHD:

Coronary heart disease

CI:

Confidence interval

CIDI-SF:

Composite international diagnostic interview, short form

CKD:

Chronic kidney disease

CNR:

National Research Council (Italy)

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

DSM-IV:

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, version IV

EAT-26:

Eating attitude test, 26 items version

EMCDDA:

European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction

F/V:

Fruit and vegetables

IFC:

Institute of Clinical Physiology

IMOD:

Italian Mediterranean organic diet

IPSAD® :

Italian population survey on alcohol and other drugs

MCA:

Multiple correspondence analysis

Med-Diet:

Mediterranean diet

MONICA:

Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease project

OR:

Odds ratio

PA:

Physical activity

SPSS:

Statistical Package for Social Science software

VRS:

Rapid stress assessment scale

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Michael Liebman for his valuable suggestions and helpful comments to the manuscript. The authors would like to thank Dr. Elisa Benedetti for the valuable help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Physiology, CNR (Italian National Research Council), Via Moruzzi n. 1, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Francesca Denoth, Marco Scalese, Valeria Siciliano & Sabrina Molinaro

  2. Section of Clinical Nutrition and Nutrigenomic, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier n. 1, Torre F Sud, Rome, 00133, Italy

    Francesca Denoth, Laura Di Renzo & Antonino De Lorenzo

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  1. Francesca Denoth
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  2. Marco Scalese
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  3. Valeria Siciliano
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Correspondence to Sabrina Molinaro.

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All procedure performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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As IPSAD® is an anonymous survey, signed consent form is not necessary because the fact that participants complete and return the survey questionnaire provides a passive consent.

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Denoth, F., Scalese, M., Siciliano, V. et al. Clustering eating habits: frequent consumption of different dietary patterns among the Italian general population in the association with obesity, physical activity, sociocultural characteristics and psychological factors. Eat Weight Disord 21, 257–268 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-015-0225-9

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