Nutrition Commons^™

Background: Consuming a variety (vs. monotony) of energy-poor, nutrient-dense foods may help individuals adhere to

dietary patterns favorably associated with weight control.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine whether greater healthful food variety quantified using the US

Healthy Food Diversity (HFD) index favorably influenced body adiposity.

Methods: Men and nonpregnant, nonlactating women aged $20 y with two 24-h recalls from the cross-sectional NHANES

2003–2006 (n = 7470) were included in this study. Dietary recalls were merged with the MyPyramid Equivalent database to

generate the US HFD index, which ranges from 0 to ;1, with …

Dietary variety is positively correlated with energy intake in most studies. However, the associations between dietary variety and measures of body adiposity are inconsistent in the literature, which limits the development of clear national nutrition recommendations regarding dietary variety. In the present systematic review, we critically evaluate the associations between dietary variety and measures of body adiposity among healthy adults within the existing literature. We conducted a systematic search of the MEDLINE and Web of Science databases in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement to examine these associations. We identified twenty-six studies in total …