Modern dietary pattern is prospectively associated with earlier age at menarche: data from the CHNS 1997–2015

Abstract

Background Early age at menarche is associated with risk of several chronic diseases. Prospective study on the association between dietary pattern and timing of menarche is sparse. We examined whether dietary patterns prior to the menarche onset were prospectively associated with menarcheal age in Chinese girls. Methods One thousand one hundred eighteen girls aged 6–13 y in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) with three-day 24-h recalls and information on potential confounders at baseline were included in the study. Dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis. Age at menarche was self-reported at each survey. Cox proportional hazard regression models were performed to examine the associations of premenarcheal dietary patterns and menarcheal timing. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results Three major dietary patterns were identified: modern dietary pattern, animal food pattern, and snack food pattern. After adjustment for age at baseline, region, ethnicity, maternal education level, energy intake at baseline, and body mass index Z-score at baseline, girls in the highest quartile of modern dietary pattern score had a 33% higher probability of experiencing menarche at an earlier age than those in the lowest quartile (HR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.002–1.77, p for trend = 0.03). No significant association was found for the animal food pattern or snack food pattern. Conclusions Higher adherence to modern dietary pattern during childhood is associated with an earlier menarcheal age. This association was independent of premenarcheal body size.

Association between the prudent dietary pattern and blood pressure in Chinese adults is partially mediated by body composition

“…Factor loadings reflect the correlations of each food group with the corresponding dietary pattern. Food groups with factor loadings ≥0.30 or ≤ −0.30 were considered as the most important contributors to each factor ( 33 ), and thus descriptive of that dietary pattern. Furthermore, the factor score for each pattern was constructed by summing standardized intakes of each food group weighted by their factor loadings, so that higher factor scores indicated better adherence to dietary patterns.…”

Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study

“…Second, we were not able to include the information on body weight or nutrition status at adolescents even though we suggested underweight as a key factor. Particularly, a dietary pattern is an important confounding factor for the association between reproductive factor and CVD, which could not be considered on this study [ 46 – 48 ]. Further studies including such confounding factor are needed.…”

Lower adherence to a prudent dietary pattern is associated with earlier age at menarche in adolescents from the Growth and Obesity Chilean Cohort Study

“…To the best of our knowledge, we only found one study that longitudinally evaluated dietary patterns and age at menarche. Duan et al ( 53 ) found in Chinese girls, a sample with high adherence to “Modern” dietary patterns, was associated with higher odds of experiencing menarche at an earlier age. Taken together, this evidence suggests that unhealthy dietary patterns have a potential influence on pubertal timing through metabolic changes in insulin-mediated pathway mechanisms and the upregulation of hormones ( 21 ).…”