March 2017 Summary

The March journal club discussion focused on diet quality among sexual orientations. The lesbian and bisexual population in this study reported an overall higher diet quality compared to heterosexual women. The majority of journal club participants agreed that it is difficult to determine the cause of this based off of this study, and that there are many more factors that may contribute to these findings such as geographical location, food access, education level, family history of diseases, etc. It was agreed upon that partners play a huge role in diet quality/lifestyle factors. Some speculations included that females may be more health conscious, and with two females in the relationship, they may influence each other greatly. Another finding from this longitudinal study was that diet quality improved with age. A near consensus as to why this is the case may be that adults as they age become more aware of health consequences resulting from poor diet quality. Often, changes in behavior may be in response to medical conditions and the need to change for their health, while younger adults do not see those risks at young age and may feel immune. Many contributors expressed the importance of nutrition education in the early years of adulthood.

Participants in this study were sent FFQs every four years to assess diet quality. Most of the journal club contributors are not fans of FFQs, as they are self-reported and may lack some truth. Although other means of data collection are preferred, most agree that this is the best tool for this particular study based on the length of the study and the amount of participants. Some other suggestions include reducing the amount of time between administrations of FFQs from 4 to 2 years, or having participants send in 3 day food logs every so often.

Further research needs to be done in other areas that may contribute to overweight/obesity in the lesbian/bisexual population. A large percentage of blog contributors would choose to focus on stress in this population, as often this minority is under a lot of scrutiny from others. Many touched upon sociological factors that contribute to stress, and figuring out the root of the stress to help with positive health changes. Others in the discussion explained they would want to further research psychological conditions and physical activity/inactivity, as motivation to be physically active may diminish due to sociological contributions to stress. Another topic contributors in this journal wanted to further study was disordered eating. With this population being a minority, there may be links to eating disorders due to ideal body image and judgement from others.