Measuring dietary acculturation in Japanese Americans with the use of confirmatory factor analysis of food-frequency data

Abstract

Background: Epidemiologic evidence suggests that dietary changes associated with acculturation to a Western diet may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in Japanese Americans. Objective: We hypothesized that dietary acculturation patterns could be measured by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by using a culturally sensitive food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We examined the utility of the estimated factor scores by testing for associations with diabetes and 2 risk factors for diabetes-body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2 ) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Design: By using cross-sectional data from a sample of 219 Nisei (second-generation Japanese American; mean age 70 y) and 277 Sansei (third-generation Japanese American; mean age 42 y) participants in the Japanese American Family Study, we conducted CFA on 5 items characteristic of a Japanese diet and 4 items characteristic of a Western diet. The resulting factor scores were examined for associations with diabetes by using logistic regression and for associations with BMI and CRP by using linear regression. Results: CFA confirmed the presence of Japanese and Western food factors. The Nisei had a significantly higher average factor score for the Japanese food factor and significantly lower average factor score for the Western food factor than did the Sansei. In Sansei persons, but not in Nisei persons, the Western food factor score was significantly associated with plasma CRP concentration (P ҃ 0.02), BMI (P ҃ 0.02), and diabetes (P ҃ 0.001). Conclusions: In this Japanese American sample, dietary acculturation can be estimated by using CFA on FFQ data. Future studies should investigate the effects of dietary acculturation on disease risk independent of other lifestyle factors.Am J Clin Nutr 2007;86: 496 -503.

Assessing food dietary intakes in Japanese-Brazilians using factor analysis

“…Habitual diet is one of the components of life style that can reflect these processes. The present study, similarly to that carried out by Pierce et al 5 , demonstrated that subjects of both generations had altered their traditional life-style (Japanese) to some extent, as evidenced by the distribution of dietary scores (Figure 2). These changes were found to be more frequent among second generation Japanese.…”

“…Akin to the findings of the present investigation, the results of previous studies involving Japanese-Americans have shown that the foods comprising the Japanese profile were tofu, rice, soy sauce (shoyu), fish and tsukemono, whereas the Western profile was made up predominantly of cheeses, soft drinks, savory snacks, chicken and red meat 5 . Similar results were reported by Hu et al 14 for participants of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.…”

“…The scores produced by this analysis had a good capacity to discriminate first generation from second generation subjects. The statistically significant relationships found between score for Western profile, anthropometric variables and the metabolic syndrome confirmed the negative impact of incorporating Western habits and customs on the health of these subjects (assessed by habitual food intake) suggested by many researchers 1,2,3,4,5 .…”

“…This suggests that the effect of environmental factors, especially those related to life style, independently of genetic predisposition, play a fundamental role in the development of these diseases 2,3,4 . Pierce et al 5 stated that Japanese immigrants who retained their traditional life style appeared to be less susceptible to chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus compared to individuals who had assimilated Western habits. The same authors highlighted that habitual diet may be a key indicator of degree of Westernization of these groups.…”

“…The same authors highlighted that habitual diet may be a key indicator of degree of Westernization of these groups. In addition, consumption of a diet rich in animal fats and refined sugar is known to be associated to high body adiposity, an important ethiopathogenic factor underlying these diseases 5,6 .…”