Abstract
Background and Objective: Few data are available about dietary patterns of adolescents and to our knowledge no information are available in this regard in Iran. The present study aimed to identify major dietary patterns among adolescent girls in Tabriz.
Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, usual dietary intakes of students of Talaat intelligent guidance school of Tabriz from a total number of 257 female students aged 11-15y were assessed using a 162-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Students of this school were from all districts and had been elected by an entrance exam. Foods from FFQ were classified into 40 food groups and entered a factor analysis by SPSS.
Results: We identified there were 6 major dietary patterns by factor analysis: (1) Western pattern (pizza, organ meats, fruit juice, sweats and desserts and etc) (2) Sweat junk foods pattern (dried fruits, jams and honey, sugars, tea, sweats and desserts, fruit juice and etc) (3) Asian pattern (legumes, potato, other vegetables, dough, high-fat dairy products, margarine, refined grains and etc) (4) Salty junk foods pattern (carrot, puffs, Potato chips, popcorn, crackers, pickles and etc) (5) low protein- soft drinks-oil pattern (cruciferous vegetables, green leafy vegetables, soft drinks, tomatoes, other vegetables, vegetable oils, mayonnaise and etc) (6) Iranian traditional dietary pattern (Hydrogenated fats, garlic, broth, tea, poultry and red meats). Overall, these dietary patterns explained 39.4% of total variance.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest 6 major dietary patterns among adolescent girls in Tabriz. The associations of these dietary patterns with health conditions remain to be identified in further studies.