Joint associations of poor diet quality and prolonged television viewing time with abnormal glucose metabolism in Australian men and women.

OBJECTIVE To examine the independent and joint associations of diet quality and television viewing time with abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) in men and women. METHOD Cross-sectional data from 5346 women and 4344 men from the 1999 to 2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study were examined. Diet quality scores were derived from a food frequency questionnaire and categorised into tertiles (high; moderate; low). Television viewing time was dichotomised into low (≤ 14 h/week) and high (>14 h/week). AGM was defined as impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, known or newly diagnosed diabetes based on an oral glucose tolerance test. Regression analyses were adjusted for confounding variables. RESULTS Diet quality and television viewing time were significantly associated with AGM in women, independent of waist circumference. Compared to women with high diet quality/low television viewing time, women with low diet quality/low television viewing time and women with low diet quality/high television viewing time were significantly more likely to have AGM. Associations were not observed in men. CONCLUSIONS Both poor diet quality and prolonged television viewing should be addressed to reduce risk of AGM in women. Further understanding of modifiable risk factors in men is warranted.