Momentary Physical Activity Co-Occurs with Healthy and Unhealthy Dietary Intake in African American College Freshmen

Abstract

Background: Research investigating interrelations between physical activity and dietary intake has primarily used retrospective, summary-based measures of behavior subject to increased recall bias. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods with accelerometry to determine within-day, momentary associations between physical activity and dietary intake behaviors in African American college freshmen. Methods: Participants (N = 50) completed a dietary EMA protocol that assessed food/fluids consumed over the past 2 h at five random times per day and wore an activPAL accelerometer for 7 days to measure physical activity. Physical activity was operationalized as step counts in the 2 h prior to the EMA prompt (matching the EMA recall window). Results: On occasions when participants took more steps than was typical for them in the 2 h prior to the EMA prompt, they were more likely to consume sugar-sweetened beverages (OR = 1.37, p < 0.001), water (OR = 1.28, p < 0.001), fruit (OR = 1.44, p < 0.001), vegetables (OR = 1.19, p = 0.02), and fried fast food (OR = 1.21, p = 0.04) over that same time. Conclusion: Momentary physical activity co-occurred with momentary consumption of both healthy and unhealthy dietary intake. These behavioral interrelations suggest potential implications for obesity risk and multiple health behavior change interventions in young adult African Americans.

Disparity of Gut Microbiota Composition Among Elite Athletes and Young Adults With Different Physical Activity Independent of Dietary Status: A Matching Study

“…Previous studies indicated that habitual Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with more time spent on leisure-time physical activity among older adults (19). Momentary physical activity was concomitant with momentary consumption of both healthy and unhealthy dietary intake in college students (20). Thus, it is hypothesized that dietary status may play a contributory role in the association of physical activity with gut microbiota.…”

Influence of Nutrient Intake on 24 Hour Urinary Hydration Biomarkers Using a Clustering-Based Approach

“…This study was part of a larger study that utilized ecological momentary analysis to assess the relationships between physical activity and dietary intake in African–American college freshman over the course of 7 consecutive days [ 39 ]. For the purposes of this study, we are including data collected at an introductory session on day 1 and dietary recalls and urine collected on days 4, 5, and 6.…”

“…Second, the associated impact of prolonged exercise and environmental heat stress on urinary hydration markers impedes the ability to fully understand the relationships between nutrient intake and urinary hydration biomarkers. Here, we adapt the approach taken by Muñoz et al, in application to data collected in the Freshman Reports of Eating, Exercise, Sitting and Health (FRESH) study [ 39 ]. Our specific objective was to identify hydration-related nutrients that were consumed concomitantly in a population of free-living African American emerging adults enrolled in their first semester (Fall semester) of college in the Southeastern United States.…”

Studying dietary intake in daily life through multilevel two-part modelling: a novel analytical approach and its practical application

“…However, dietary intake typically does not occur within each predefined time-interval (e.g. no intake in 46% of 2-h-time-intervals [ 7 ]) or only a small amount is consumed (e.g. a snack).…”

“…Furthermore, a common approach is to study whether but not how much dietary intake occurred through multilevel logistic regressions (e.g. [ 7 , 12 – 14 ]). However, if the amounts of the consumed foods/drinks are also captured, available data with important implications are disregarded.…”