Correlation between a liking for fat-rich foods and body fatness in adult Japanese: a gender difference

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that Japanese adults who like fat-rich foods have more body fatness and higher serum lipid levels than those who do not. The subjects were 540 male and 492 female workers under 41 years of age. A self-administered questionnaire determined four levels of liking for fat-rich foods. Anthropometric measurements were employed yielding body mass index (BMI), waist to hip circumference ratio (WHR), and skinfold thickness. Anthropometric values were compared among the levels of liking for fat-rich foods using analysis of covariance. For males, a liking for fat-rich foods was associated with BMI, WHR, whole-body skinfold thickness, and abdominal skinfold thickness (p<0·0001). In particular, those who like fat-rich foods “quite a bit” or “very much” showed significantly higher values than those who answered “no” or “a little”. Multiple regression analysis showed that a liking for fat-rich foods explains 7–9% of the variation in the anthropometric indices, even when other lifestyles were taken into account. For females, such findings were not evident. There is a gender difference in the association between a liking for fat-rich foods and body fatness. The difference may be due to a female-specific attitude toward high-calorie foods.