A Step toward Understanding Diet Quality in Urban African-American Breast Cancer Survivors: A Cross-sectional Analysis of Baseline Data from the Moving Forward Study

Abstract

Purpose: Little is known about the dietary behaviors of African-American breast cancer survivors (AABCS). We sought to describe dietary intake and quality in AABCS and examine associations with demographic, social, lifestyle, and body composition factors to potentially inform the development of effective dietary interventions.

Methods: Baseline data from a prospective weight loss trial of 210 AABCS were assessed. A food frequency questionnaire was used to evaluate dietary intake and diet quality via the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010). Linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the most influential variables on diet quality.

Results: Mean HEI- and AHEI-2010 total scores were 65.11 and 56.83 indicating that diet quality needs improvement. Women were the least adherent to recommendations for intake of whole grains, dairy, sodium, empty calories, sugary beverages, red/processed meats, and trans-fat. Increased self-efficacy for healthy eating behaviors, more years of education (AHEI only), negative smoking status, smaller waist circumference, and increased physical activity (HEI only) were significantly associated with higher diet quality scores.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest the diet quality of AABCS needs improvement. Intervention programs may achieve higher diet quality in AABCS by focusing on increasing self-efficacy for healthy eating behaviors.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the parent study, Moving Forward, a community-based randomized weight loss intervention trial [grant number NCT02482506], [grant number R01CA116750]; the University of Illinois at Chicago Cancer Education and Career Development Program, which included help with manuscript preparation from Nina Sandlin [grant number CA057699]; the American Cancer Society Mentored Research Science Grant [MRSG 014-025-01-CNE]; and the Stanford University Prevention Research Center Postdoctoral Fellowship [grant number 5T32HL007034-39].