High Diet Quality Is Linked to Low Risk of Abdominal Obesity among the Elderly Women in China

Abstract

How diet as a whole impacts the risk of general overweight and abdominal obesity among the Chinese elderly is unclear. The present study aimed to examine the association of overall diet quality with general overweight and abdominal obesity in the Chinese elderly. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1993 to 2015, an ongoing cohort study, we selected participants aged 60 and older who were not generally overweight, but who had abdominal obesity at baseline and who had participated in at least two waves of the survey as subjects. The China Elderly Dietary Guidelines Index (CDGI-E) was used, based on the critical diet-related recommendations of the 2016 Chinese Dietary Guideline (CDG-2016), to assess overall diet quality. Consecutive 3 d, 24 h recalls and household weighing for seasonings and edible oils were used to collect dietary data and calculate the CDGI-E scores. Three-level (community-individual-wave) random intercept logistic regression models were used to analyze the impact of diet quality on the risk of general overweight and abdominal obesity in the elderly. The results showed that the older women in the top sixtiles of the CDGI-E scores had a 38% reduction —0.62, 95% CI (0.41, 0.92)—in the risk of abdominal obesity, as compared to those in the bottom sixtiles after adjusting for all potential confounders, while the null association was observed in the older men. The relationship between CDGI-E score and the risk of overweight/general obesity in the Chinese elderly has not been found. It was concluded that a high diet quality was associated with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity among elderly women in China. Our findings will help to improve the understanding of the relationship between the overall effect of diet and health. It may provide a new avenue for obesity intervention policy formulation from the aspect of improving overall dietary quality.

Association between obesity and fracture risk in Chinese women above 50 years of age: a prospective cohort study

“…The MET per hour for each physical activity type was obtained from the Compendium of Physical Activities [ 25 ]. To obtain the daily dietary intake of energy (kcal), protein (g), fat (g), and carbohydrates (g), the dietary records method of three consecutive days was used [ 26 ]. In the present study, menopause status could not be included since CHNS did not collect information regarding menopause in adults from 1997.…”

Effectiveness of personalized meal recommendation in improving dietary behaviors of Chinese community-dwelling elders: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

“…Dietary diversity will be evaluated using the dietary diversity score (DDS) [30], which has been successfully utilized to assess dietary diversity among the Chinese elderly population [31]. The diet quality of enrolled communitydwelling elders will be evaluated using China Elderly Dietary Guidelines Index (CDGI-E) [32], which is developed based on the elderly-related diet recommendations of the 2016 Chinese Dietary Guideline [33]. CDGI-E has been employed as a dietary quality evaluation index in a large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted nationwide to assess the dietary quality of the elderly [32].…”

Effectiveness of personalized meal recommendation in improving dietary behaviors of Chinese community-dwelling elders: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Dietary diversity will be evaluated using the Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) 33 , which has been successfully utilized to assess dietary diversity among the Chinese elderly population 34 . Diet quality of enrolled community-dwelling elders will be evaluated using China Elderly Dietary Guidelines Index (CDGI-E) 35 , which is developed based on the elderly-related diet recommendations of the 2016 Chinese Dietary Guideline 36 . CDGI-E has been employed as a dietary quality evaluation index in a large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted nationwide to assess the dietary quality of the elderly 35 .…”

“…Diet quality of enrolled community-dwelling elders will be evaluated using China Elderly Dietary Guidelines Index (CDGI-E) 35 , which is developed based on the elderly-related diet recommendations of the 2016 Chinese Dietary Guideline 36 . CDGI-E has been employed as a dietary quality evaluation index in a large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted nationwide to assess the dietary quality of the elderly 35 . Recording the actual eating behaviors allows investigators to determine the number and quantity of specific food categories in selected dishes.…”