High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.

Background: Dietary diversity is recognized as a key element of a high quality diet. However, diets that offer a greater variety of energy-dense foods could increase food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to explore association of diet diversity with obesity in Sri Lankan adults. Met...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jayawardena, Ranil, Byrne, Nuala M., Soares, Mario, Katalunda, Prasad, Yadav, Bijesh, Hills, Andrew
Format: Journal Article
Published: BioMed 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26567
_version_ 1848752023480041472
author Jayawardena, Ranil
Byrne, Nuala M.
Soares, Mario
Katalunda, Prasad
Yadav, Bijesh
Hills, Andrew
author_facet Jayawardena, Ranil
Byrne, Nuala M.
Soares, Mario
Katalunda, Prasad
Yadav, Bijesh
Hills, Andrew
author_sort Jayawardena, Ranil
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: Dietary diversity is recognized as a key element of a high quality diet. However, diets that offer a greater variety of energy-dense foods could increase food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to explore association of diet diversity with obesity in Sri Lankan adults. Methods: Six hundred adults aged > 18 years were randomly selected by using multi-stage stratified sample. Dietary intake assessment was undertaken by a 24 hour dietary recall. Three dietary scores, Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), Dietary Diversity Score with Portions (DDSP) and Food Variety Score (FVS) were calculated. Body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg.m−2 is defined as obese and Asian waist circumference cut-offs were used diagnosed abdominal obesity. Results: Mean of DDS for men and women were 6.23 and 6.50 (p=0.06), while DDSP was 3.26 and 3.17 respectively (p=0.24). FVS values were significantly different between men and women 9.55 and 10.24 (p=0.002). Dietary diversity among Sri Lankan adults was significantly associated with gender, residency, ethnicity, education level but not with diabetes status. As dietary scores increased, the percentage consumption was increased in most of food groups except starches. Obese and abdominal obese adults had the highest DDS compared to non-obese groups (p<0.05). With increased dietary diversity the level of BMI, waist circumference and energy consumption was significantly increased in this population. Conclusion: Our data suggests that dietary diversity is positively associated with several socio-demographic characteristics and obesity among Sri Lankan adults. Although high dietary diversity is widely recommended, public health messages should emphasize to improve dietary diversity in selective food items.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:02:02Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-26567
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:02:02Z
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-265672019-05-23T07:16:11Z High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores. Jayawardena, Ranil Byrne, Nuala M. Soares, Mario Katalunda, Prasad Yadav, Bijesh Hills, Andrew Background: Dietary diversity is recognized as a key element of a high quality diet. However, diets that offer a greater variety of energy-dense foods could increase food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to explore association of diet diversity with obesity in Sri Lankan adults. Methods: Six hundred adults aged > 18 years were randomly selected by using multi-stage stratified sample. Dietary intake assessment was undertaken by a 24 hour dietary recall. Three dietary scores, Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), Dietary Diversity Score with Portions (DDSP) and Food Variety Score (FVS) were calculated. Body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg.m−2 is defined as obese and Asian waist circumference cut-offs were used diagnosed abdominal obesity. Results: Mean of DDS for men and women were 6.23 and 6.50 (p=0.06), while DDSP was 3.26 and 3.17 respectively (p=0.24). FVS values were significantly different between men and women 9.55 and 10.24 (p=0.002). Dietary diversity among Sri Lankan adults was significantly associated with gender, residency, ethnicity, education level but not with diabetes status. As dietary scores increased, the percentage consumption was increased in most of food groups except starches. Obese and abdominal obese adults had the highest DDS compared to non-obese groups (p<0.05). With increased dietary diversity the level of BMI, waist circumference and energy consumption was significantly increased in this population. Conclusion: Our data suggests that dietary diversity is positively associated with several socio-demographic characteristics and obesity among Sri Lankan adults. Although high dietary diversity is widely recommended, public health messages should emphasize to improve dietary diversity in selective food items. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26567 10.1186/1471-2458-13-314 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 BioMed fulltext
spellingShingle Jayawardena, Ranil
Byrne, Nuala M.
Soares, Mario
Katalunda, Prasad
Yadav, Bijesh
Hills, Andrew
High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title_full High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title_fullStr High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title_full_unstemmed High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title_short High dietary diversity is associated with obesity in Sri Lankan adults: An evaluation of three dietary scores.
title_sort high dietary diversity is associated with obesity in sri lankan adults: an evaluation of three dietary scores.
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26567