The Relationships between a Dietary Pattern Linked to Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Life Satisfaction in Early Adolescence

Little is known about the contribution of dietary patterns of poor quality on life satisfaction among Malaysian children. We evaluated associations between an empirically derived "high sugar, high fibre, high dietary energy dense (DED) and low fat" dietary pattern and life satisfaction score in adolescents. A total of 548 adolescents aged 13 years were recruited from randomly selected public schools located in three southern states of Peninsular Malaysia. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) while life satisfaction was measured using a Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS). Z-score for a "high sugar, high fibre, high DED and low fat" dietary pattern was estimated by applying reduced rank regression analysis. Relationships between the dietary pattern and life satisfaction scores were assessed using regression models. Mean and SD of life satisfaction score was higher in girls (70.5 (12.8)) compared to boys (67.6 (15.4)), p < 0.05. The overall life satisfaction score (β = -0.119; 95% CI: -0.125, -0.004) was inversely associated with dietary pattern z-score as well as scores for self (β = -0.13; 95% CI: -0.170, -0.015) and living environment (β = -0.12; 95% CI: -0.163, -0.007) domains in girls. An opposite trend was observed for school domain in boys whereby an increasing dietary pattern score was positively associated with increasing life satisfaction score (β = 0.216; 95% CI: 0.054, 0.36). The finding of this study highlights the role of free sugar and DED particularly, within the framework of whole diet, and target population at risk to improve life satisfaction among adolescents.