Association of macronutrients intake distribution with osteoarthritis risk among adults in NHANES, 2013-2016

Front Nutr. 2023 Mar 23:10:976619. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.976619. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The association between dietary macronutrient distribution and the risk of OA remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate how dietary macronutrient distribution was correlated with the risk of OA in US adults. We performed a cross-sectional study consisting of 7,725 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2016. Dietary macronutrient intake and OA status were assessed by using dietary recall method and self-reported questionnaire, respectively. We evaluated the association between dietary macronutrient distribution and the risk of OA using multivariate regression models. We conducted the isocaloric substitution analysis using the multivariate nutrient density method. Higher percentage of energy intake from fat was associated with higher risk of OA [OR = 1.05 (95% CI, 1.00, 1.09); P = 0.034]. No significant correlation was observed between the percentage of energy intake from carbohydrate or protein and risk of OA. Isocaloric substitution analysis revealed that only the substitution between fat and carbohydrate was significantly associated with the risk of OA [OR = 1.05 (95% CI, 1.003 to 1.09); P = 0.037]. Our findings suggested that a diet with low percentage of energy intake from fat may be beneficial in the prevention of OA. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to assess our results.

Keywords: NHANES; cross-sectional study; dietary pattern; macronutrients; osteoarthritis.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers: 81873327, 82004392, 82274544, and 81573996), the Double First-class Discipline Construction Project of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Grant Number: Z2015002), the Major Project of “Double First-class” and High-level University Discipline Collaborative Innovation Team of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Grant Number: 2021XK05), the Cultivated Project of “Double First-class” and High-level University Discipline Collaborative Innovation Team of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Grant Numbers: 2021XK41 and 2021XK46), and the Foundation of Guangdong Educational Committee for Youth Scientists (Grant Number: 2019KQNCX017).