The Comparison of Dietary Patterns and Hedonic Score in Obese and Non-obese Women

Food consumption for its hedonic properties can result in caloric intake exceeding requirements and is considered as a major culprit in the rapidly increasing rate of obesity. We compared the dietary patterns and the hedonic questionnaire score in obese and non-obese women. We also investigated the relation between the score of this questionnaire and variety of food items. This case-control study was conducted on 140 women aged 17-44 years that had referred to obesity club at district 4 of Tehran in 2011. Food intake and hedonic score were determined using validated semi-quantitative 168-item food frequency questionnaire and 21-item hedonic questionnaire, respectively. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between obesity and the dietary patterns identified by factor analysis and hedonic hunger score. Two dietary patterns were identified as healthy and unhealthy patterns. The adjusted odds ratio of obesity didn’t show any significant trend in none of the dietary patterns. The mean hedonic questionnaire score was higher in case than control group, significantly (p <0.05). The adjusted odds ratio of obesity, for the second and the third tertiles of this questionnaire versus the first tertile of this, was 2.8 and 10.8, respectively (p <0.05). This study shows that there is no difference between the dietary patterns of obese and nonobese women; while there is a positive association between hedonic hunger and obesity. It seems that hedonic hunger may lead the obese women to consume unhealthy food choices.