Adherence to index-based dietary patterns in childhood and BMI trajectory during the transition to adolescence: the EPOCH study.

Background: In the United States, one in five adolescents are obese. Index-based dietary patterns are measures of the overall diet that have the potential to serve as valuable obesity risk stratification tools. However, little is known about the association between adherence to index-based dietary patterns in childhood and BMI during the transition from childhood to adolescence.