Background: Along with the epidemiologic transition that Brazil has experiencing in the last decades, the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, diet westernization and physical inactivity, are also observed. It is well known that those factors, alone or combined promote the increase of cancer incidence. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the main dietary patterns in Brazilian population and to measure their association with unhealthy behaviors as physical inactivity, binge drinking and smoking. Methods: The study was based on the National Health Survey data, representing the adult Brazilian population, conducted in 2013. A questionnaire containing 22 dietary intake questions was applied. Dietary patterns were identified through principal components analyses (PCA). Factor scores were divided into quartiles from lower to higher (Q1-Q4) and included in specific models as dependent variables. Poisson regression with robust error variance model were fitted to perform the association between Q1-Q4 and physical inactivity, binge drinking and smoking. The multivariate models were adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related variables. P value of < 0.05 was considered statically significant. Results: Total of survey's respondents was 60,202 (estimated population size=146,308,458). PCA identified three distinct dietary patterns: so called healthy - fruits, vegetables and natural fruit juice; protein - beans and meats; western - snacks, sweets and sugary beverages. Physically inactive individuals, smokers and binge drinkers were respectively 15%, 27% and 12% significantly less likely to adopt the healthy pattern when compared with active individuals, nonsmokers and nondrinkers. Younger individuals (18-24) were 52% (95% CI: 50%–55%) significantly less likely to adopt this pattern, compared with the oldest (60 and older). Younger individuals were 64% (95% CI: 57%–71%) more likely to adopt the protein pattern compared with their older counterparts (60 and older). Being physically inactive, smoker and binge drinker significantly increased the risk of adopting the protein pattern in 12%, 17%, 13% respectively, when compared with active individuals, nonsmokers and nondrinkers. The western pattern was significantly twice (101%, 95% CI: 92%–110%) more common among individual aged 18-24 than in the elderly (60 and older). Being a binge drinker increased significantly in 16% the likelihood of adopting the western pattern compared with nondrinkers. Being physically inactive and smoker was not significantly associated to this pattern. Conclusion: We identified significant associations between the 3 dietary patterns and unhealthy behaviors in the Brazilian adult population. However, the main risk factor related was younger age and the association was stronger for the western pattern. Our study shows that young adults must be targeted in the context of public health nutrition campaigns.
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