title: The relationship between diet quality and adult obesity: evidence from Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationship between diet quality and body mass index (BMI) in Canadian adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used confidential, individual-level data on 6325 adult men and 7211 nonpregnant adult women from the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey to construct 2 diet quality indices (the Diet Quality Index [DQI] and and the Healthy Eating Index [HEI]) and BMI. After adjusting for known observable confounders, a latent class modeling analysis was conducted to account for unobservable confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that there were 2 latent classes (low-BMI and high-BMI components), and that DQI and HEI indices were negatively associated with BMI in the high-BMI component. In the high-BMI component, a one-unit increase in DQI score is associated with a 0.053 kg/m(2) decrease in BMI, whereas a one-unit increase in HEI score is associated with a 0.095 kg/m(2) decrease in BMI. Subgroup analyses revealed that the association between diet quality and obesity was stronger in women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diet quality is associated with lower BMI in high-BMI individuals in Canada. Diet quality exhibits a distinct association in each latent class; this association is stronger in women. Latent class analysis offers a superior methodological framework in understanding the modifiable risk factors for obesity.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics , Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Kala
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundararajan
authors.forename: M Karen
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Yun-Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sisira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002170:Canada; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D012737:Sex Factors