Dietary Patterns and Obesity in Chinese Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Karen Jiang, Zhen Zhang, Lee Ann Fullington, Terry T. Huang, Catherine Kaliszewski, Jingkai Wei, Li Zhao, Shuyuan Huang, Amy Ellithorpe, Shenghui Wu, Xinyin Jiang, Liang Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Certain dietary patterns are associated with an increased risk of obesity and its comorbidities. However, these associations vary across populations. The prevalence of obesity has been rising amid a drastic nutrition transition in China during the country’s rapid economic growth. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to summarize how dietary patterns are associated with obesity in the Chinese population. We searched for articles from 1 January 2000 to 1 February 2022 in PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Scopus that assessed the relationship between dietary patterns and obesity outcomes. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a random effects model. From the 2556 articles identified from the search, 23 articles were included in the analysis. We found that the traditional Chinese dietary pattern was associated with a lower risk of overweight/obesity (OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.84, p < 0.001), whereas the Western dietary pattern was associated with a higher OR of overweight/obesity, but not reaching statistical significance (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.84, p = 0.07). There were inconsistent results for other dietary patterns, such as meat/animal protein and plant/vegetarian patterns. In conclusion, the traditional Chinese diet characterized by vegetables, rice, and meat was associated with a lower risk of obesity. The heterogeneity in characterizing dietary patterns contributes to the inconsistency of how dietary patterns are associated with obesity in the Chinese population.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number4911
JournalNutrients
Volume14
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2022

Keywords

  • Chinese
  • body weight
  • dietary pattern
  • obesity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Food Science
  • Nutrition and Dietetics

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