Plant protein consumption is associated with body mass index among women of reproductive age in Indonesia

Abstract:
Introduction: One of the known determinants of obesity in Southeast Asia countries, including Indonesia, is the nutritional transition, which is indicated by fast changes in food production, dietary habits, and physical activity. With rising incomes, plant protein from grains, tubers, and legumes is gradually being replaced by animal protein from poultry, eggs, dairy, and red meat. This change is identified
as a protein transition. Different choices of protein sources in the diet have varying health effects. However, there is limited information on the Asian population on the role of protein consumption on the increasing obesity prevalence. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of protein sources consumption with body mass index (BMI) among women of reproductive age in Indonesia.
Methods: This study used secondary data from the 2018 Indonesia Food Barometer (IFB) conducted using a quantitative cross-sectional survey. A total of 467 Indonesian reproductive-aged women (20–49  years) were included in this study. Dietary intake, including protein consumption, was obtained using 24-h dietary recall. Multiple linear regression was applied to find the association of protein consumption with BMI with a p-value