Dietary patterns, central obesity and serum lipids concentration in Mexican adults

Introduction: dietary patterns (DP) analyse the relationship between consumption of foods or nutrients and disease or health outcomes. High prevalence of obesity in adults in Mexico is associated with factors such as high consumption of certain food groups and nutrients. However, few studies have been conducted to explore associations between dietary patterns and obesity in apparently healthy adults. Objective: to identify major dietary patterns (DP) associated with central-obesity (CO) and lipid concentrations in healthy adults. Methods: longitudinal study including usual dietary intakes derived from multiple 24-hour-recalls. Waist-circumference (WC) and biochemical measurements were obtained by standardized procedures and DP by principal component analysis. Adjusted-logistic regression was used to examine associations between DP, CO and serum-lipid concentrations. Results: three DP were identified: healthy-DP, risky-DP and empty-DP. Participants in the healthy-DP were more likely to have lower risk for central-obesity according to WC criteria (OR = 0.31, CI = 0.12, 0.82), p = 0.017, but also had the highest risk for elevated LDL-cholesterol (OR = 2.98, CI = 1.16, 7.66), p = 0.030. There was no significant association between risky and empty DP with obesity or overweight by body mass index (BMI), central-obesity by WC or serum lipid abnormalities. Conclusions: the healthy-DP is associated with lower risk for CO, with higher risk for elevated LDL-cholesterol. It is necessary to develop longitudinal studies of foods and nutritional analysis of the diet to clarify these associations, to promote the reduction of modifiable risk factors.