JACN
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Drewnowski, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hercberg, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Drewnowski, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hercberg, S.
Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 28, No. 1, 22-29 (2009)
Published by the American College of Nutrition

Diet Quality Measures and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in France: Applying the Healthy Eating Index to the SU.VI.MAX Study

Adam Drewnowski, PhD, Elizabeth C. Fiddler, MS, Luc Dauchet, PhD, Pilar Galan, PhD and Serge Hercberg, MD

Center for Public Health Nutrition and the Nutritional Sciences Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (E.C.F., A.D.), INSERM Unit 557; INRA U1125
Université de Paris 13; Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine Ile-de-France, Paris/Bobigny, FRANCE (S.H., P.G., L.D.)

No reprints available. Please address correspondence to Adam Drewnowski, 305 Raitt Hall, Box 353410, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. E-mail: adamdrew{at}u.washington.edu

Objective: To examine associations between diet quality measures, lifestyle variables, and cardiovascular risk factors in a large cohort of French adults.

Methods: Participants were 5,081 French men and women aged 35-61 y, voluntarily enrolled in a long-term clinical trial of cancer and CVD prevention (SU.VI.MAX study). Participants provided 12 days of dietary recalls. Data on heights, weights, blood pressure, and lipid profiles were obtained from clinic visits.

Statistical Analysis: Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores were calculated for each participant. The association between dietary and lifestyle variables and health was tested using analyses of variance and regression models in a cross sectional design.

Results: Mean age was 51.7 y for men and 47.0 y for women. Mean body mass index (BMI) values were 24.9 for men and 22.6 for women. Obesity rate was 4% and cardiovascular risk factors were low. Mean percent energy from fat was 37% (saturated fat 16%) and very few respondents met US dietary guidelines for fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Higher diet quality, as indexed by HEI scores, was associated with being older, married, better educated, physically active, and having never smoked. For men only, higher HEI scores were weakly associated with lower BMI and lower blood pressure. HEI was not associated with plasma lipid measures.

Conclusions: In this sample of adult men and women in France, higher HEI scores were associated with healthier lifestyles and higher socioeconomic status. However, HEI scores were only weakly linked to health parameters or to body weight. Linking diet quality to health outcomes is a continuing challenge.

Key words: Healthy Eating Index, diet quality, plasma lipids, blood pressure, body weight

Abbreviations: AHEI=alternative Healthy Eating Index • HEI=Healthy Eating Index • SU.VI.MAX=Supplementation en Vitamines et Mineraux Antioxydants






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the American College of Nutrition.