Dietary patterns of adolescents in Germany - Associations with nutrient intake and other health related lifestyle characteristics.docVIP

Richteretal.BMCPediatrics2012,12:35 /1471-2431/12/35 RESEARCH ARTICLE OpenAccess DietarypatternsofadolescentsinGermany- Associationswithnutrientintakeandother healthrelatedlifestylecharacteristics AlmutRichter1,2*,ChristinHeidemann2,MatthiasBSchulze3,JuttaRoosen1,SilkeThiele4andGertBMMensink2 Abstract Background:TheaimofthisstudywastoidentifydietarypatternsamongarepresentativesampleofGerman adolescentsandtheirassociationswithenergyandnutrientintake,socioeconomicandlifestylecharacteristics,and overweightstatus. Methods:Intheanalysis,datafromtheGermanHealthInterviewandExaminationSurveyforChildrenand Adolescentswereused.Thesurveyincludedacomprehensivedietaryhistoryinterviewconductedamong1272 adolescentsaged12to17years.Dietarypatternsweredeterminedwithprincipalcomponentanalysis(PCA)based on48foodgroups,forboysandgirlsseparately. Results:Three dietary patterns among boys and two among girls were identified. Among boys, high adherence to the ‘western’pattern was associated with higher age, lower socioeconomic status (SES), and lower physical activity level (PA). High adherence to the ‘healthy’ pattern among boys, but not among girls, was associated with higher SES, and higher PA. Among boys, high adherence to the ‘traditional’pattern was associated with higher age. Among girls, high adherence to the ‘traditional and western’ pattern was associated with lower age, lower SES and more hours watching TV per day. The nutrient density of several vitamins and minerals, particularly of B-vitamins and calcium, increased with increasing scores of the ‘healthy’pattern among both sexes. Conversely, with increasing scores of the ‘western’ pattern among boys, most nutrient densities decreased, particularly of fibre, beta-carotene, vitamin D, biotin and calcium. Among girls with higher scores of the ‘traditional and western’ pattern, nutrient densities of vitamin A, C, E, K and folate decreased. Among boys, high adherence to the ‘traditional’ pattern was correlated with higher densit