Healthy Eating Index-C is compromised among adolescents with body weight concerns, weight loss dieting, and meal skipping

The objective was to describe weight concerns, dieting, and meal skipping of adolescents and to determine associations with the Healthy Eating Index-C (HEI-C). Data, that were collected using the Food Behaviour Questionnaire, revealed that participants (male = 810, female = 1016) in grades 9/10 reported weight concerns (n = 518), dieting (n = 364), and skipping breakfast (n = 498), lunch (n = 252), and/or dinner (n = 129). Of those dieting or weight concerned (n = 602), 61% were healthy weight and of those not dieting or weight concerned (n = 1224), 13% were overweight/obese. The ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that HEI-C was likely to be rated lower among those weight concerned and dieting (p < .001), and among those that skipped the breakfast meal (p < .001). The current study identified inappropriate weight concerns and dieting that compromised diet quality and has implications for future intervention and policy development.