Major dietary patterns in Iranian adolescents: Isfahan Healthy Heart Program, Iran

<div><div><div><div><p class="abstract"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Limited information exists from the dietary pattern of children and adolescents particularly in developing countries. We aimed to detect major dietary patterns and their association with socio-demographic characteristics of Iranian adolescents.</p> <p class="abstract"><strong>METHODS:</strong> Healthy Heart Promotion from Childhood as one of the &ldquo;Isfahan Healthy Heart Program&rdquo;, Iran, projects was conducted in adolescents aged 11-18 years in Isfahan, Najafabad, and Arak districts, Iran, selected randomly by multistage sampling. This survey was conducted on 1992 adolescents in 2007. Dietary intake was assessed using a 50-item food frequency questionnaire in both communities.</p> <p class="abstract"><strong>RESULTS:</strong><strong> </strong>Four major dietary patterns labeled &ldquo;prudent diet,&rdquo; fast food diet,&rdquo; &ldquo;animal fat diet,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Mediterranean diet&rdquo; were identified. We found a significant inverse relationship between prudent and animal fat dietary patterns with age, prudent and Mediterranean dietary patterns with being boy. However, a positive relationship between fast food dietary pattern and age; fast food and animal fat dietary patterns with being boy were detected (all P &lt; 0.05). While urbanization and TV watching correlated positively with the fast food diet, an inverse relationship between urbanization and animal fat and Mediterranean dietary patterns were found (all P &lt; 0.01). The animal fat and fast food dietary patterns inversely associated with nutrition knowledge; however, Mediterranean diet had a positive relationship with it (all P &lt; 0.05). Membership in sport team was positively related to all dietary pattern and regular physical activity associated only with prudent diet (all P &lt; 0.05).</p> <p class="abstract"><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> The study suggests that socio-demographic characteristics and physical activity are related to dietary patterns in Iranian adolescents.</p></div><p class="abstract">&nbsp;</p></div></div>