Evaluation of daily eating patterns on overall diet quality using decision tree analyses

Area of Science:

• Nutrition science
• Public health
• Dietary assessment

Background:

• Emerging evidence links meal timing to improved diet quality.
• Understanding how specific food consumption during eating episodes (day-level eating patterns) influences diet quality requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between day-level eating patterns and diet quality.
• To identify specific food types and eating episodes that predict higher diet quality.

Main Methods:

• Decision tree models were utilized with 24-hour dietary recall data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2017.
• Input parameters included 16 food groups and 12 eating episodes.
• Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020).

Main Results:

• Analysis included 12,597 dietary recalls from 9,347 US adults (≥18 years).
• Breakfast whole-grain intake, lower solid fat intake (<8.94g), and dinner plant protein intake were significant predictors of higher diet quality.
• Meals and snacking episodes showed the greatest variety of food groups contributing to the HEI-2020 score.

Conclusions:

• Day-level eating patterns, encompassing both food type and timing, are significantly associated with diet quality.
• Findings suggest that interventions targeting specific food types and meal timing could improve overall diet quality.