Abstract P155: Dietary Pattern Improvements are Related to Less Weight Gain During the Transition From Adolescence Into Young Adulthood

Abstract

Background: Excess weight gain during childhood and adolescence is associated with elevated cardiovascular risk factors in young adulthood. Little is known about dietary pattern in relation to weight gain during early life stages. Objectives: We assessed change in diet quality, using the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS), and its relationship with concurrent weight change among a large, diverse group of adolescents transitioning into young adulthood. Methods: Participants recruited from Minnesota public secondary schools, followed for 10 years, reported on diet and weight status in early adolescence (1999; mean age 15 y), late adolescence (2004; mean age 20 y) and young adulthood (2009; mean age 25 y). We included 1,474 initially non-obese participants with all three surveys. The APDQS was the sum of quintile scores 0 to 4 for the 16 food groups rated as beneficial in terms of hypothesized health effects plus scores in reverse order (4 to 0) for the 9 foods rated as adverse, with 12 food groups rated neutral not adding to the score. The score focused on varied, plant-based, less processed dietary patterns, with contributions from many food groups. A higher score indicates a diet with better quality. Results: Mean (SD) weight increased from 61 (14) kg in 1999 to 76 (19) kg in 2009. Over the same period mean (SD) APDQS increased from 46 (12) to 53 (12). The APDQS stabilized with aging (within-person tracking correlation r=0.50 from late adolescence to young adulthood vs r=0.32 from early to late adolescence). An increase in APDQS was associated with less weight gain, with exception over early to late adolescence (Table). Conclusions: APDQS captures aspects of Mediterrean and prudent diets and is more powerful than individual food items. This cohort study suggests that an increase in diet quality is associated with less weight gain during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Furthermore, this diet pattern begins to track as strongly as physical risk factors like blood pressure starting in late adolescence.