Association of Dietary Patterns and Overweight among University Students Southeast, Nigeria

Background: An unhealthy diet is a risk factor associated with the rising prevalence of overweight, obesity and other non- communicable diseases. Paucity of data exists on dietary patterns (DP) of university students in Nigeria.Objective: The study employed the use of dietary pattern analysis to characterise diets of university students, as well as investigate the association of the identified patterns with overweight.Methods: A cross-sectional study of university students selected after multi-stage sampling from five tertiary institutions in Southeast, Nigeria was conducted. Socio-demographic data was collected, while body mass index (BMI) was calculated to determine overweight (BMI >25kg/m2). Dietary patterns were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA) of 124 food and beverage items derived from a validated food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to test associations between dietary patterns and overweight.Results: The prevalence of overweight was 19.9%. Four dietary patterns identified using principal component analysis were (1)  “healthy'', (2) “bread and drinks”, (3) “snacks” and (4) “alcohol” dietary patterns, and these explained 47.1% of variation in the diets of the students. The “alcohol" DP (characterized by alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages) was significantly associated with overweight(odds ratio (OR) =1.202, p=0.002) in both gender. Males had higher odds of consuming foods from the “alcohol" DP (OR=1.175: p=0.035), and were less likely to adhere to the “healthy" DP (OR=0.822; p=0.014) compared to females.Conclusion: The findings suggest that the “alcohol" dietary pattern may increase the risk of overweight. Interventions aimed at improving dietary patterns among university students are required. Keywords: Dietary pattern, overweight, obesity, food consumption, University students