Abstract
Background
The associations between eating frequency and diet quality are inconclusive, which
might be a result of different effects of meal frequency and snack frequency.
Objective
This cross-sectional study examined the associations of eating frequency, meal frequency,
and snack frequency with diet quality, based on data from the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2012.
Design
Dietary intake was assessed in 19,427 US adults aged 20 years or older, using two
24-hour dietary recalls. All eating occasions providing ≥50 kcal were divided into
either meals or snacks on the basis of contribution to daily energy intake (≥15% or
<15%), self-report, and time (6 am to 10 am, 12 pm to 3 pm, and 6 pm 9 pm or others). Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010).
Statistical analyses performed
Linear regression analyses were performed to explore the associations of eating frequency,
meal frequency, and snack frequency (independent variables) with dietary intake variables
(dependent variables).
Results
Higher eating frequency was modestly and positively associated with higher HEI-2010
in both men and women; one additional eating occasion per day increased HEI-2010 by
1.77 points in men and 2.22 points in women (both P<0.0001). All measures of meal frequency and snack frequency were also modestly and
positively associated with HEI-2010 in both sexes, irrespective of the definition
of meals and snacks. However, the associations were stronger for meal frequency than
for snack frequency; one additional meal per day increased HEI-2010 by 2.14 to 5.35
points, and one additional snack per day increased HEI-2010 by 1.25 to 1.97 points
(all P<0.0001).
Conclusions
In a representative sample of US adults, both meal frequency and snack frequency were
modestly associated with better diet quality.
Keywords
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Biography
K. Murakami is an associate professor, Department of Nutrition, School of Human Cultures, University of Shiga Prefecture, Hikone, Japan.
Biography
M. B. E. Livingstone is a professor, Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, Ulster University, Coleraine, UK.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 02, 2016
Accepted:
December 3,
2015
Received:
July 21,
2015
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This work was supported in part by the Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Kentaro Murakami, grant number 15K16213). The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
