Eating frequency is inversely associated with BMI, waist circumference and the proportion of body fat in Korean adults when diet quality is high, but not when it is low: analysis of the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV)

• Published in: British journal of nutrition 2018-04, Vol.119 (8), p.918-927
• Main Authors: Kim, Sunmi, Yang, Jeong Hee, Park, Gyeong-Hun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adequacy; Adults; Body fat; Body mass index; Diabetes; Diet; Disease control; Human and Clinical Nutrition; Indicators; Insulin resistance; Lifestyles; Metabolism; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Obesity; Quality; Regression analysis; Regression models; Weight control
• ISSN: 0007-1145; 1475-2662
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007114518000557

The role of eating frequency (EF) in obesity development has been debated, and few studies have investigated Asian populations. Diet quality might affect the association between EF and obesity. Therefore, we investigated the association between EF and obesity indicators in a representative sample of Korean adults with consideration to diet quality. This cross-sectional study used data of 6951 participants aged 19–93 years (male 49·8 %, female 50·2 %) from the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. EF was assessed using a questionnaire, and diet quality was defined as mean adequacy ratio (MAR). To explore the association between EF and obesity indicators, we used multiple linear regression analyses with and without interaction terms between diet quality and EF. EF was inversely associated with each obesity indicator, including body fat percentage (BF%), BMI and waist circumference (WC), showing a significant linear trend (P