Patrones dietarios en adolescentes mexicanas. Una comparación de dos métodos. Encuesta Nacional de Nutrición, 1999

Objective. To identify dietary patterns in Mexican female adolescents by two statistic methods. Material and Meth ods. Cross-sectional study of 477 women 12 to 19 years of age –National Nutrition Survey, 1999. Dietary patterns were obtained by factor and cluster analyses. Results. Three dietary patterns were identified by cluster analysis: “Urbanpoor” [U] (9.7%), “Rural” [R] (47.9%), and “Western” [W] (42.3%). Pattern [U] was characterized by a sizeable intake of maize products (20%) and industrialized foods (17%). Maize products and legumes predominated in the [R] pattern (48% and 6% of total energy, respectively). In the [W] pattern, wheat products and meat contributed 19% and 10.6% of energy, respectively. Moreover, four dietary patterns were identified through factor analysis. Factor 1 had a positive loading factor on wheat products, desserts, and meat. Factor 2 was characterized by a high consumption of low-fat dairy and low-fiber breakfast cereals. Factor 3 had a high loading for sweetened beverages and industrialized foods. Factor 4 had a moderate loading on maize products and legumes. Conclusion.We identified dietary patterns in Mexican adolescent girls by two methods, obtaining comparable results between methods.