Dietary patterns are associated with obesity in Mexican schoolchildren

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Mexican schoolchildren has increased in the past three decades. Dietary pattern approaches to assess diet have been used to study the relation between nutrition and chronic conditions.

The objective of this study is to analyze the association between dietary patterns (DP) and overweight and obesity in Mexican schoolchildren.

We analyzed information from schoolchildren who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012 (ENSANUT-2012). Dietary information was obtained through a 24-h recall of 2751 children (5-11 year). Foods were classified into 33 groups, and the DPs were identified by cluster analysis (k-means method). Weight and height were measured to estimate the body mass index (BMI), by classifying overweight if the Z score was >1 and ≤2 standard deviations (SD), and obesity when the Z score was >2SD. To analyze the association, a Poisson regression model was used, adjusting by age, region, area of residence, socioeconomic status (SES), and the survey design.

Four DPs were identified: "Traditional", "Industrialized", "Varied", and "Modern". The "Modern" DP was associated with obesity (PR = 1.7) (p < 0.05) compared with the "Traditional" DP.

The "Modern" DP could be influencing the development of obesity in Mexican schoolchildren. The promotion of healthy food and public health strategies to those food groups that should be discouraged are necessary to reverse the obesity epidemic in Mexican children.