Dietary patterns and their association with obesity and sociodemographic factors in a national sample of Lebanese adults.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and characterize dietary patterns in Lebanon and assess their association with sociodemographic factors, BMI and waist circumference (WC).

DESIGN: A cross-sectional population-based survey. In a face-to-face interview, participants completed a brief sociodemographic and semiquantitative FFQ. In addition, anthropometric measurements were obtained following standard techniques. Dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess determinants of the various patterns and their association with BMI and WC.

SETTING: National Nutrition and Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Survey (2009), Lebanon.

SUBJECTS: A nationally representative sample of 2048 Lebanese adults aged 20-55 years.

RESULTS: Four dietary patterns were identified: 'Western', 'Traditional Lebanese', 'Prudent' and 'Fish and alcohol'. Factor scores of the identified patterns increased with age, except for the Western pattern in which a negative association was noted. Women had higher scores for the prudent pattern. Adults with higher levels of education had significantly higher scores for the prudent pattern. The frequency of breakfast consumption was significantly associated with scores of both traditional Lebanese and prudent patterns. Multivariate-adjusted analysis revealed a positive association between scores of the Western pattern and the BMI and WC of study participants.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings show the presence of four distinct dietary patterns in the Lebanese population, which were associated with age, sex, education and meal pattern. Only the Western pattern was associated with higher BMI.