Register for Diet high in empty calories increases risk of becoming overweight
Obesity Risk FactorDecember 5, 2002
2002 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Information coming out of the Framingham Nutrition Studies indicates that identifying dietary patterns may aid development of effective weight management strategies.
Paula A. Quatromoni, at Boston University, and colleagues involved in the Framingham Nutrition Study analyzed data from 737 women participants who were not overweight at entrance into the study. The investigators identified five major dietary patterns among the women: Heart Healthy, Light Eating, Wine and Moderate Eating, High Fat, and Empty Calorie.
At the 12-year follow-up, 29% of the women were overweight. Women whose diet fell into the Empty Calorie category were the most likely (41%) to be overweight, while those in the Wine and Moderate Eating category were least likely (22%) to be overweight.
In comparison to participants who followed the Heart Healthy diet, the women with the Empty Calorie diet, high in sweets and fats, were 1.4 times more likely to become overweight, even after adjusting for age, smoking behavior, exercise level, menopausal status, and total caloric intake. Smoking was more common among women who ate an Empty Calorie diet.
"Behavioral interventions for weight management and obesity prevention may be enhanced by creatively targeting differences in eating patterns, dietary quality, and other lifestyle behaviors of distinct subgroups of the population," concluded Quatromoni and her coauthors (Dietary patterns predict the development of overweight in women: The Framingham Nutrition Studies. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2002;102(9):1240-1246).
The corresponding author for this study is Paula A. Quatromoni, Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 715 Albany St, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
A search at www.NewsRx.net using the search term "obesity risk factor" yielded 465 articles in 32 specialized reports.
Key points reported in this study include:
* Women whose diet was characterized as Empty Calorie were most likely to become overweight
* Women whose diet was characterized as Wine and Moderate Eating were least likely to become overweight
* Women whose diet was characterized as Empty Calorie were more likely to be smokers than were women who followed other types of diets This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
©Copyright 2002, Women's Health Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net
