Dietary Total Antioxidant Capacity: A Novel Indicator of Diet Quality in Healthy Young Adults

Conflict of interest: All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest concerning the data contained in this manuscript.

Abstract

Background: Overall diet quality measurements have been suggested as a useful tool to assess diet-disease relationships. Oxidative stress has been related to the development of obesity and other chronic diseases. Furthermore, antioxidant intake is being considered as protective against cell oxidative damage and related metabolic complications.

Objective: To evaluate potential associations between the dietary total antioxidant capacity of foods (TAC), the energy density of the diet, and other relevant nutritional quality indexes in healthy young adults.

Methods: Several anthropometric variables from 153 healthy participants (20.8 ± 2.7 years) included in this study were measured. Dietary intake was assessed by a validated food-frequency questionnaire, which was also used to calculate the dietary TAC and for daily energy intake adjustment.

Results: Positive significant associations were found between dietary TAC and Mediterranean energy density hypothesis–oriented dietary scores (Mediterranean Diet Score, Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score, Modified Mediterranean Diet Score), non-Mediterranean hypothesis–oriented dietary scores (Healthy Eating Index, Alternate Healthy Eating Index, Diet Quality Index-International, Diet Quality Index-Revised), and diversity of food intake indicators (Recommended Food Score, Quantitative Index for Dietary Diversity in terms of total energy intake). The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index and Diet Quality Index scores (a Mediterranean and a non–Mediterranean hypothesis–oriented dietary score, respectively), whose lower values refer to a higher diet quality, decreased with higher values of dietary TAC. Energy density was also inversely associated with dietary TAC.

Conclusion: These data suggest that dietary TAC, as a measure of antioxidant intake, may also be a potential marker of diet quality in healthy subjects, providing a novel approach to assess the role of antioxidant intake on health promotion and diet-based therapies.

• total antioxidant capacity of foods (TACOF)
• dietary intake
• energy density
• chronic disease
• health

We thank Blanca Martínez de Morentin and Salomé Pérez for assistance with the data collection and all those who volunteered to participate in the study. This work has been supported by the Health Department of the Government of Navarra (22/2007), the Línea Especial about Nutrition, Obesity and Health (LE/97), Ibercaja, the ADA fellowships scheme of the University of Navarra, and the Capes Foundation of the Ministry of Education of Brazil (375605-0). Also, the assistance of the Director of the Foreign Language Institute at the University of Navarra in a final reading of the last version of the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.