OBJECTIVE: Dietary factors, independent of total energy, may be important in promoting obesity. We examined prospectively the relationship between baseline diet composition and weight gain among adult men and women from southeastern New England. DESIGN: The prospective association of nutrient consumption and weight change was examined in a randomly selected cohort examined four years apart. SUBJECTS: Adults aged 18 through 64 years from two communities in Southeastern New England were randomly selected for the study after being interviewed in their homes. The present investigation is based on a subgroup of 465 individuals who completed a food-frequency questionnaire in 1986 or 1987 and were reinterviewed four years later. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association of weight change with different nutrients and food groups after adjusting for age, smoking status, baseline body mass index, physical activity level, and total energy. RESULTS: Total energy was positively associated with weight gain and age was inversely associated with weight gain. None of the nutrients or food groups were signi®cantly related to weight gain. CONCLUSIONS: These ®ndings indicate that weight gain increased with increasing baseline total energy intake, particularly in the young. Future research is required to determine ways of decreasing energy intake in younger individuals.

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These results suggest that the survey alcohol question provides a useful qualitative measure of categorizing nondrinkers and identifying drinkers who consume more than one drink per day. In population studies where quantitative measures of alcohol intake may not be available a survey alcohol question may prove useful when alcohol intake is likely to confound results, and adjustment of the data is needed.

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