Abstract P092: Age and Gender-specific Associations of Diet Quality and 4-year Weight Change in Non-obese Adults of the Dutch Lifelines Cohort

Abstract

Introduction: Diet is an important lifestyle factor in strategies for overweight prevention, but little is known about its dependency on contextual factors like age and gender. Hypothesis: We assessed the hypothesis that the strength of the association between diet quality and 4-year weight change differed among age categories and between genders. Methods: From the Dutch Lifelines Cohort, 85.618 non-obese, adult participants were included in the study. At baseline, diet was assessed with a 110-item food frequency questionnaire. The Lifelines Diet Score, based on established evidence-based food groups for the prevention of chronic diseases, was calculated to assess diet quality. For analyses, the score was divided in quintiles. Body weight was objectively measured at baseline and after a median follow-up of 44 months (25th-75th percentile: 35-51 months). In between, body weight was self-reported twice. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the association between diet quality and weight change in 6 age categories (18-29 to 70+) and stratified by gender. Results: Mean 4-year weight change decreased over age categories. Confounder adjusted linear mixed model analyses showed that the association between diet quality and weight change was dependent on age, more so in women (p INTERACTION =0.001). Poor diet quality (quintile 1 vs. quintile 5) was most strongly related to 4-year weight gain in young men (estimated mean +1.62 kg) and young women (estimated mean +1.13 kg). In contrast, in women aged 70+, poor diet quality was associated with weight loss (estimated mean -1.80 kg). Conclusions: Poor diet quality was prospectively related to higher weight gain, especially in young adults. Oppositely, among women aged 70+, better diet quality was related to less weight loss. Therefore, a healthful diet is a promising target for unintentional weight changes in both directions.