Healthy Eating Index-2010 and General/Central Obesity Among Adult Women Living in Tehran, Iran

The prevalence of central and general obesity is increasing to epidemic levels and turning to a social health problem. A possible association may exist between nutritional adequacy and obesity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of general and central obesity with diet quality in Iranian women by 2010 version of Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010). A total of 460 women aged 20 - 50 years old participated in this cross-sectional study. Dietary intake data was collected using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Anthropometric assessment was performed by standard methods and HEI-2010 was used to investigate diet quality. The association between HEI-2010 and general/central obesity was analyzed by logistic regression. The frequency of general and central obesity was 31 (15.1%) and 95 (21.5%), respectively. Of the participants, 330 (74.8%) had a low HEI-2010 total score. After adjusting for confounders, those with the high HEI-2010 total score had lower risk of central obesity (OR = 0.3; CI 95%: 0.14 - 0.70); however, the results were not significant for general obesity. Among the components of HEI-2010, the scores of dairy, total vegetables, empty calorie foods, refined grains and sodium were negatively associated with both general and central obesity (P ≤ 0.05). Lower risk of general and abdominal obesity is associated with a higher quality of dietary intake. Furthermore, the nutrition education programs for preventing obesity should be emphasized to promote higher intakes of dairy, fruits and vegetables and preventing high consumption of energy-dense foods and sodium.