Influence of dietary pattern on the development of overweight in a Chinese population

Objective: To examine dietary factors predisposing to overweight and obesity, taking into account age, gender, education level and physical activity. Design: Longitudinal population study. Setting: Community living subjects in Hong Kong. Subjects: One thousand and ten Chinese subjects participating in a territory wide dietary and cardiovascular risk factor prevalence survey in 1995-1996 were followed up for 5-9 years. Measurements: Body mass index (BMI) was measured. Information was collected on factors predisposing to development of overweight and obesity (age, gender, education level, physical activity, macronutrient intake, Mediterranean diet score and food variety), and the predisposing dietary factors examined, adjusted for other confounding factors, using logistic regression. Results: The 5-9-year incidence of overweight is 22.6% (BMI ≥ 23 kg/ m², 95% confidence interval (CI) = 15.0-30.1%) or 11.5% (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m², 95% CI = 7.3-15.7%), and for obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) is 0.6% (95% CI = -0.2-1.4%). The corresponding figures for women were 14.1% (95% CI = 8.8-19.5%), 9.7% (95% CI = 6.0-13.4%) and 3% (95% CI = 1.3-4.8%). After adjusting for confounding factors (age, sex, education and physical activity), increased variety of snack consumption was associated with increased risk of developing overweight (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m²) in the Hong Kong Chinese population over a 5-9-year period. Conclusion: Increased variety of snack consumption may predispose to weight gain over a 5-9-year period.