Association of white and red meat consumption with general and abdominal obesity: a cross-sectional study among a population of Iranian military families in 2016.

PURPOSE: To assess the association of red and white meat consumption with general and abdominal obesity among Iranian military families.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 525 subjects with age range of 19-55 years belong to military families of Army of Islamic Republic of Iran were recruited during 2016. Dietary data were collected using semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data on demographic characteristics and anthropometric measurements. General obesity was defined as body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 and abdominal obesity as waist circumference ≥80 cm for women and ≥ 94 cm for men. Finally, we had complete data on 170 subjects for analysis.

RESULTS: Mean age of subjects was 33.78 ± 6.48. We found a significant positive association between red meat consumption and abdominal obesity in fully adjusted model, so that subjects in the fourth quartile had 4.51 more odds to be abdominally obese compared with those in the first quartile of red meat consumption (OR 4.51, 95% CI 1.32-15.40). Such relationship was not seen for general obesity. In addition, white meat consumption was not associated with general and abdominal obesity either before or after adjustment for covariates.

CONCLUSIONS: Red meat consumption was positively associated with abdominal obesity. No significant relationship was found between white meat consumption, and general and abdominal obesity. Therefore, further studies are needed to shed light our findings.