Temporal Dietary Patterns Derived among the Adult Participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004 Are Associated with Diet Quality

Abstract Background Temporal dietary patterns, the distribution of energy or nutrient intakes observed over a period of time, is an emerging area of dietary patterns research that incorporates time of dietary intake with frequency and amount of intake to determine population clusters that may have similar characteristics or outcomes related to diet quality. Objective We examined whether differences in diet quality were present between clusters of individuals with similar daily temporal dietary patterns. Design The first-day 24-hour dietary recall data from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004, were used to determine proportional energy intake, time of intake, frequency of intake occasions, and mean diet quality. Participants/setting Data from 9,326 US adults aged 20 to 65 years were included. Statistical analyses performed The mean diet quality, classified by the Healthy Eating Index-2005, of participant clusters with similar temporal dietary patterns derived on the basis of individual proportional energy intake, time of intake, and frequency of intake, were inferentially compared using multiple linear regression that controlled for potential confounders and other covariates ( P