The association between dietary fat and body fat in obese adults

Lee, Ka Young; Kim, Ki Jung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There are different opinions on whether the percentage of dietary fat is associated with the development of obesity and on it's treatment . In this country, dietary fat intake has been smaller compared to the Western countries. The purpose of this study was to find whether intake of dietary fat is related to percentage body fat in obese adults cross sectionally.
METHODS
Nutrient intake from 24 hour dietary recall and percent body fat from bioelectrical impedance method were measured in 51 obese adults. Total energy intake was associated with intake of dietary fat and body size. Thus, the association of intake of dietary fat and three types of fat with percentage body fat were examined after adjustment for total energy intake by using 4 statistical models (standard multivariate model, and nutrient residual model, energy partition model, and multivariate nutrient density model).
RESULTS
In all of these models, the results for types of fat and total fat showed similar results. Higher intake of total fat, saturated and polyunsaturated fat was associated with increased percentage body fat, while higher intake of monounsaturated fat was associated with decreased percentage body fat.
CONCLUSION
We found positive association between dietary intake of fat and percentage body fat in obese adults. Our results suggest that reducing fat intake would be a helpful way to prevent and treat obesity in adults.