Dietary Habits Worsen as Obesity Risk Scores Increase

A new study finds young adults scoring slightly higher on an obesity risk-assessment scale still had much worse dietary habits than those at lower risk.

Emory University researchers compared Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EEOS) criteria with diet and lifestyle factors of 106 overweight and obese young adults in the greater Atlanta area. The EEOS includes 5 stages, ranging from obesity with no metabolic abnormality (stage 0), to preclinical conditions such as prediabetes (stage 1), comorbidity such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidemia (stage 2), end-organ damage such as heart failure (stage 3), and severe disability (stage 4).

Seventy-seven percent of the individuals the authors studied were female, and 73 percent were African-American, with 79 percent of participants falling into EOSS stage 2 obesity. Researchers saw significantly higher body mass index (BMI) among those in stage 2 obesity, versus stages 0 and 1. Among participants aged 18 to 29, those who ranked in stage 1 or 2 also had worse dietary quality scores than those in group 0.
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The findings, which were presented at the American Association of Diabetes Educator meeting, held Aug. 6 – 9 in Orlando, Fla., revealed those with stage 1 or stage 2 obesity typically eat fewer vegetables and consume less dietary fiber, and their diets include more added sugars, saturated fat, sodium, and overall calories than those in stage 0, the authors noted. The stage 1 and 2 obese also ate more fried foods and late-night snacks. These habits, the researchers reported, were reflected in lower scores on a dietary quality assessment tool, the Dietary Quality Index Revised for Young Adults (DQIR-Y).

In addition, patients with stage 1 and 2 obesity also drank more sugar-sweetened beverages, and those in stage 2 consumed the most diet soda. This finding indicated that patients in this group may be aware of their condition and attempting to change it, with stage 2 obesity patients also demonstrating higher physical activity levels than patients with stage 0 and stage 1 obesity, according to the investigators, who called for the results to be replicated with a larger sample size, with participants followed for a longer span of time.

The results “suggest a need for more public health prevention messaging in these groups, in order to combat obesity and its related comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease,” reported lead study author Eun Seok Cha, PhD, MPH, MSN, assistant professor in the Neil Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University.

—Mark McGraw