Nutrients (Aug 2022)

Association between Long-Term Changes in Dietary Percentage of Energy from Fat and Obesity: Evidence from over 20 Years of Longitudinal Data

  • Chenlu Wu,
  • Baibing Mi,
  • Wanrong Luo,
  • Binghua Chen,
  • Jiao Ma,
  • Hao Huang,
  • Qian Zhang,
  • Yaqiong Wang,
  • Heng Liu,
  • Binguo Yan,
  • Fangyao Chen,
  • Leilei Pei,
  • Ruru Liu,
  • Xueying Qin,
  • Duolao Wang,
  • Hong Yan,
  • Yaling Zhao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14163373
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 16
p. 3373

Abstract

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Objectives: This study assessed the associations between long-term trajectories of percentage of energy from fat (PEF) and obesity among Chinese adults. Methods: Longitudinal data collected by the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1991 to 2015 were analyzed. A body mass index ≥28.0 was defined as general obesity. Participants’ baseline PEF levels were categorized as lower than the recommendation of the Chinese Dietary Guideline (30%). Patterns of PEF trajectories were identified by latent class trajectory analysis for overall participants and participants in different baseline PEF groups, respectively. Cox proportional hazards regression models with shared frailty were used to estimate associations between PEF and obesity. Results: Data on 13,025 participants with 72,191 visits were analyzed. Four patterns of PEF trajectory were identified for overall participants and participants in three different baseline PEF groups, respectively. Among overall participants, compared with “Baseline Low then Increase Pattern” (from 12% to 20%), participants with “Baseline Normal-Low then Increase-to-High Pattern” (from 20% to 32%) had a higher hazard of obesity (hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confident interval (CI) at 1.18 (1.01–1.37)). Compared with the “Stable Pattern” group (stable at around 18% and 22%, respectively), participants with “Sudden-Increase Pattern” (from 18% to 30%) in the baseline group whose PEF levels were lower than the recommendation and those with “Sudden-Increase then Decrease Pattern” (rapidly increased from 25% to 40%, and then decreased) in the baseline group who met the recommendation had higher hazards of obesity (HRs and 95% CIs being 1.65 (1.13–2.41) and 1.59 (1.03–2.46), respectively). Conclusions: Adults with a trajectory that involved a sudden increase to a high-level PEF had a higher risk of general obesity. People should avoid increasing PEF suddenly.

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