Major dietary patterns and their associations with overweight and obesity among Iranian children

Increasing prevalence of obesity is a major health concern. Lifestyle behaviors and diet play an important role in developing childhood obesity. The aim of this study was to determine the association between major dietary patterns and overweight/obesity in a group of Iranian school-aged children.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Isfahan, Iran with 637 elementary school-aged children. A semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess usual dietary intakes. Data on socio-demographic, physical activity and other lifestyle habits were collected using standard questionnaires. Obesity was determined based on national cut-offs. Factor analysis was used for identifying major dietary patterns.

Three major dietary patterns were extracted; "Healthy," "Western," and "Sweet-Dairy." After adjusting for confounders, girls in the second quartile of healthy pattern, were more likely to be overweight (odds ratio [OR] =2.23, Confidence intervals [CI] =1.003, 4.96) compared to those in the highest quartile. Likelihood of being overweight was lower for girls in the second quartile of western dietary pattern versus the fourth quartile (OR = 0.46, CI = 0.21, 1.01). Accordingly, lower adherence to sweet and dairy pattern was associated with lower body mass index (BMI) among girls (OR = 0.42, CI = 0.21, 0.85). There was no significant relationship between western and sweet-dairy pattern with BMI among boys, however, significant association was observed between lowest and highest quartiles of healthy pattern (OR = 0.36, CI = 0.15, 0.84).

We found significant associations between the three dietary patterns and obesity among girls. Only healthy pattern was related to weight status of schoolboys. Longitudinal studies will be needed to confirm these associations.