Major dietary patterns in Iranian adolescents: Isfahan Healthy Heart Program, Iran

Background: limited information exists from the dietary pattern of children and adolescentsparticularly in developing countries. we aimed to detect major dietary patterns and theirassociation with socio-demographic characteristics of iranian adolescents.methods: healthy heart promotion from childhood as one of the “isfahan healthy heartprogram”, iran, projects was conducted in adolescents aged 11-18 years in isfahan, najafabad,and arak districts, iran, selected randomly by multistage sampling. this survey was conductedon 1992 adolescents in 2007. dietary intake was assessed using a 50-item food frequencyquestionnaire in both communities.results: four major dietary patterns labeled “prudent diet,” fast food diet,” “animal fat diet,” and“mediterranean diet” were identified. we found a significant inverse relationship between prudentand animal fat dietary patterns with age, prudent and mediterranean dietary patterns with beingboy. however, a positive relationship between fast food dietary pattern and age; fast food andanimal fat dietary patterns with being boy were detected (all p < 0.05). while urbanization and tvwatching correlated positively with the fast food diet, an inverse relationship between urbanizationand animal fat and mediterranean dietary patterns were found (all p < 0.01). the animal fat andfast food dietary patterns inversely associated with nutrition knowledge; however,mediterranean diet had a positive relationship with it (all p < 0.05). membership in sport teamwas positively related to all dietary pattern and regular physical activity associated only withprudent diet (all p < 0.05).conclusion: the study suggests that socio-demographic characteristics and physical activityare related to dietary patterns in iranian adolescents.