Gender-specific association of body fat mass with muscle meat-vegetable intake ratio in Shaanxi, China

Background and Objectives: The effects of muscle meat and vegetable intake on body fat mass remain unclear in the general population. This study aimed to investigate the association of body fat mass and fat distribution with a muscle meat-vegetable intake (MMV) ratio. Methods and Study Design: In total, 29,271 participants aged 18-80 years were recruited from the Shaanxi cohort of the Regional Ethnic Cohort Study in Northwest Chi- na. The associations of muscle meat, vegetable and MMV ratio, as the independent variable, with body mass in- dex (BMI), waist circumference, total body fat percentage (TBF) and visceral fat (VF), as dependent variables were evaluated by gender-specific linear regression models. Results: There was 47.9% of men whose MMV ratio was greater than or equal to 1 and this figure was about 35.7% for women. For men, higher muscle meat intake was associated with higher TBF (standardized coefficient [S], 0.508; 95% CI, 0.187-0.829), higher vegetable in- take was associated with lower VF (S, -0.109; 95% CI, -0.206 - -0.011), and higher MMV ratio was associated with higher BMI (S, 0.195; 95% CI, 0.039-0.350) and VF (S, 0.523; 95% CI, 0.209-0.838). For women, both higher muscle meat consumption and MMV ratio were associated with all fat mass markers, but vegetable intake was not correlated with body fat mass markers. The positive association of MMV on body fat mass was more pronounced in higher MMV ratio group, with both men and women. The intake of pork, mutton and beef was as- sociated positively with fat mass markers but no such association was observed for poultry or seafood. Conclusions: An increased intake of muscle meat or a higher MMV ratio was associated with increased body fat, especially among women, and such impact may mainly be attributed to increasing intake of pork, beef and mutton. The dietary MMV ratio could be thus a useful parameter for nutritional intervention.