Effect of health lifestyle pattern on dietary change

Purpose. To examine the effect of lifestyle on the effectiveness of a low-i ntensity dietary intervention. Design. A secondary data analysis was performed using data from the Eating Patterns Study, a randomized controlled trial that found that self-help, ma terials with physician advice was effective in changing dietary intake and behavior Setting. Primary care clinics in a large health maintenance organization. Subjects. A total of 2111 patients with a routine scheduled appointment wit h their primary care physicians. Measures. Participants were grouped into one of six health lifestyle Patter ns based on similarities in baseline measures of alcohol intake, smoking, d iet quality, and exercise. Within each lifestyle pattern, changes from base line in usual fat and fiber intake (based on a food frequency) and a fat an d fiber behavior score were compared at 3 months and 12 months for interven tion vs. control participants. Intervention. Self-help materials delivered by a physician with advice to c hange diet. Results. Intervention participants in the fitness lifestyle group made the largest changes relative to controls for each dietary outcome at 3 and 12 m onths. For intervention participants defined by their alcohol intake or cur rent smoking, either no changes in diet were observed compared with control s, or early changes were not sustained over time. Intervention-control comp arisons within the remaining lifestyle patterns showed smaller dietary chan ges compared with the fitness lifestyle. This finding was similar to previo usly published results. Conclusions. This randomized controlled trial had limited power to detect s ubgroup differences; however, these results suggest that lifestyle patterns may be useful in the development of effective, targeted interventions to c hange behavior.