Association between dairy consumption and prevalence of obesity in adult population of northeast China: An internet-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dairy has been shown to reduce the risk of obesity in many epidemiological studies. However, few studies have been fully conducted in China in this respect. We aimed to investigate the association between dairy consumption and prevalence of obesity in an adult Chinese population. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was performed in an adult population of 5598 in northeast China, aged ≥18. Intakes of dairy products were obtained by internet-based dietary questionnaire for the Chinese (IDQC). The associations between total and individual dairy consumption and prevalence of overall and abdominal obesity were examined by logistic regression. Sex stratification was performed. RESULTS: A total of 3871 participants, including 1700 men and 2171 women, were eligible for analysis. Men who consumed ≥100 g/day of yogurt had lower risks of abdominal obesity (multivariate-adjusted OR=0.41; 95% CI: 0.24-0.70) than men who did not consume yogurt. Women who consumed ≥200 g/day of milk had lower risks of overall obesity (multivariate-adjusted OR=0.47; 95% CI: 0.24-0.91) than women who did not consume milk. CONCLUSIONS: Increased dairy consumption was associated with lower risk of obesity in adult population in northeast China. Further studies are needed to confirm these observational findings and explain the observed gender-specific difference.