Association between adherence to the Food Guide golden rule and health characteristics among adult Brazilian women: a cross-sectional study with VIGITEL data, 2018-2021.

Objective: To assess association of adherence to the golden rule of the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population with health characteristics among adult women according to sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 102,057 women interviewed by the Chronic Disease Risk and Protective Factors Surveillance Telephone Survey System in the Brazilian state capital cities and Federal District between 2018 and 2021. Outcome variables included obesity, hypertension, diabetes, depression and negative self-rated health. Adherence to the golden rule was rated by scores (-13 to +12 points) that combined the consumption of ultra-processed foods (negative) and fresh and minimally processed foods (positive). This score was categorized according to consumption tertiles, with low adherence (first tertile), moderate adherence (second tertile) and high adherence (third tertile). Logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (OR) (by sociodemographic variables) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of the outcomes in relation to adherence to the Guide.

Results: Compared to low adherence, moderate adherence was inversely associated with obesity (OR 0.86; 95%CI 0.78; 0.93) and negative self-rated health (OR 0.72; 95%CI 0.62; 0.84). High adherence was inversely associated with obesity (OR 0.72; 95%CI 0.65; 0.79), hypertension (OR 0.85; 95%CI 0.78; 0.93), depression (OR 0.69; 95%CI 0.59; 0.82) and negative self-rated health (OR 0.55; 95%CI 0.45; 0.67).

Conclusion: Adherence to the Guide's golden rule was inversely associated with chronic diseases and negative self-rated health among adult Brazilian women.