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Journal of the Australian Health Promotion Association
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Diet quality and 6-year risk of overweight and obesity among mid-age Australian women who were initially in the healthy weight range

Haya M. Aljadani A B , Amanda J. Patterson A , David Sibbritt C and Clare E. Collins A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.

B Faculty of Nutrition and Food Science, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.

C Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, 15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: clare.collins@newcastle.edu.au

Health Promotion Journal of Australia 27(1) 29-35 https://doi.org/10.1071/HE14070
Submitted: 29 July 2014  Accepted: 24 September 2015   Published: 16 November 2015

Abstract

Issue addressed: The present study investigated the association between diet quality, measured using the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS), and 6-year risk of becoming overweight or obese in mid-age women from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH).

Methods: Women (n = 1107) aged 47.6–55.8 years who were a healthy weight (body mass index (BMI) between ≤18.5 and <25.0 kg m–2) at baseline and who reported valid total energy intakes were included in the study. BMI was calculated from self-reported data in 2001 and 2007. ARFS scores were calculated from data collected using the Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies Version 2. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between ARFS score as a continuous variable and risk of becoming overweight or obese.

Results: The 6-year incidence of overweight and obesity was 18.5% and 1.1%, respectively. The mean (± s.d.) ARFS (maximum possible 74) among those who remained within the healthy weight range and those who became overweight or obese at follow-up was 35.3 ± 8.1 and 34.3 ± 8.8, respectively. There was no relationship between baseline ARFS and risk of becoming overweight or obese over 6 years. Women who were smokers were more likely to become overweight or obese (odds ratio 1.5; 95% confidence interval 1.11–2.09; P = 0.008).

Conclusions: Poor diet quality was common among mid-age women of a healthy weight in the ALSWH. Higher diet quality was not associated with the risk of overweight or obesity after 6 years, yet smoking status was.

So what?: Better diet quality alone will not achieve maintenance of a healthy weight, but should be encouraged to improve other health outcomes.

Key words: body mass index, cohort study, dietary patterns, health promotion.


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