title: Healthy Eating Index and Alternate Healthy Eating Index among Haitian Americans and African Americans with and without Type 2 Diabetes.
abstract: Ethnicities within Black populations have not been distinguished in most nutrition studies. We sought to examine dietary differences between African Americans (AA) and Haitian Americans (HA) with and without type 2 diabetes using the Healthy Eating Index, 2005 (HEI-05), and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). The design was cross-sectional N = 471 (225 AA, 246 HA) and recruitment was by community outreach. The eating indices were calculated from data collected with the Harvard food-frequency questionnaire. African Americans had lower HEI-05 scores β = -10.9 (-8.67, 13.1); SE = 1.12, P < .001 than HA. Haitian American females and AA males had higher AHEI than AA females and HA males, respectively, (P = .006) adjusting for age and education. Participants with diabetes had higher adherence to the HEI-05 β = 3.90 (1.78, 6.01), SE = 1.08, P < .001 and lower adherence to the AHEI β = -9.73 (16.3, -3.19), SE = 3.33, P = .004, than participants without diabetes. The findings underscore the importance of disaggregating ethnicities and disease state when assessing diet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
authors.forename: Fatma G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Huffman
authors.forename: Maurcio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De La Cera
authors.forename: Joan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vaccaro
authors.forename: Gustavo G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Zarini
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Exebio
authors.forename: Deva
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gundupalli
authors.forename: Lamya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shaban