Previous studies on the relationship between dietary carotenoids and obesity are few, and the results are inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between total carotenoids, α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein+zeaxanthin intakes and the risk of obesity in adults. This cross-sectional study was carried out based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2018. The two 24-h dietary recall interviews were used to collect dietary carotenoids data. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2. Logistic regression models and restricted cubic spline were used to assess the relationships between carotenoids intakes and obesity. A total of 25,868 adults aged 20 and over were enrolled in the present study. In multivariate logistic regression model 2, the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of obesity were 0.82 (0.74-0.91), 0.80 (0.72-0.90), 0.77 (0.69-0.87), 0.85 (0.76-0.95), and 0.80 (0.73-0.89) for the highest versus the lowest of total carotenoids, α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and lutein+zeaxanthin intakes, respectively. Dose-response analyses suggested that the carotenoids mentioned above were inversely related to obesity in a nonlinear manner. In multivariate-adjusted model 2, total carotenoids intake were associated with lower risk of Class 1, 2, and 3 obesity. This study indicated that intakes of total carotenoids, α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and lutein+zeaxanthin were inversely associated with the risk of obesity.
Keywords: NHANES; carotenoids; dietary; dose-response; obesity.