title: Associations between Dietary Factors and Self-Reported Physical Health in Chinese Scientific Workers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Scientific workers play an important role in the development of science and technology. However, evidence is lacking with regard to the associations between their dietary factors and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 775 scientific workers from multiple universities and institutes in the Southwest region of China. A self-administered food-frequency questionnaire was used to collect the food consumption information, and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey was used to assess physical HRQOL. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to identify the factors associated with scientific workers' HRQOL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Physical HRQOL was negatively associated with age and intake of fresh pork (fat) and animal viscera, whereas consumption of vegetables, fruits, refined cereals and dairy products were positively correlated with physical HRQOL. Participants with daily intake of vegetable oils or mixed oils showed higher physical HRQOL scores than those with intake of animal oils.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dietary habits are closely associated with the physical HRQOL of scientific workers. The dietary patterns that had more vegetables and fruits, less fresh pork (fat) and animal viscera, and used vegetable oils during cooking corresponded to higher physical HRQOL scores. These findings are important for planning dietary strategies to improve physical health in scientific workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. gqf1965@163.com.
authors.forename: Qian-fen
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. tuling1982@163.com.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics, College of Preventive Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. zliang1986@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. Hong1983@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D059232:Laboratory Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D057566:Self Report
keywords: SF-36; dietary factors; health-related quality of life; scientific workers