Lifetime dietary change and its relation to increase in weight in Spanish women

INTRODUCTION: Changes in dietary patterns and a decrease in physical activi ty have occurred in Western countries. These are factors in the variation i n body composition observed in populations, characterized by a progressive accumulation of fat with age and a consequent increase in the risk of suffe ring from common chronic illnesses such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. OBJECTIVE: To investigate weight gain throughout the life-cycle and its rel ation to modifications in dietary patterns, analyzing the causes of these m odifications and their implications for patterns of adult overweight and ob esity. DESIGN: Gross-sectional sample of Spanish women from a socio-economically d isadvantaged class. SUBJECTS: 1037 healthy perimenopausal women (age: 45-66 y). MEASUREMENTS: Juvenile body mass index (BMI) current BMI, food frequency qu estionnaire, retrospective food habits. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Of these women, 48.8% had changed their dietary ha bits duping their lifetime. A change in diet clue to migration or marriage occurred at approximately 20 years of age and was characterized by an incre ased frequency of consumption of foods rich in protein anal complex carbohy drates, while a change due to illness occurred at around 50 years of age an d was characterized by a decrease in the consumption of these types of food . The change in dietary behavior due to migration was associated with weigh t gain. Weight gain was also inversely associated with BMI during youth; wo men who in their youth had a BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2) gained an average of 21.4 k g, compared with those with a BMI > 27 kg/m(2) in their youth, who gained a n average of 5.4 kg.