Network-Based Sex-Specific Dietary Communities and Associations With All-Cause Mortality and Life Expectancy in Canadian Adults
1
Food, Nutrition and Health Program, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2
Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A3732
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Unhealthy diets were major modifiable risk factors for mortality¹. Dietary assessment was essential, yet conventional approaches had limited ability to capture direct food–food relationships². Network-based evidence on sex differences in dietary patterns and their links to mortality remains limited. We constructed dietary networks in Canadian adults, identified dietary communities, and examined associations with mortality and life expectancy (LE) in sex-stratified analyses.
METHODS:
Individual-level data came from the Canadian Community Health Survey–Nutrition 2004 (linked with health administrative databases) and 2015. Food–food conditional dependencies were estimated using semiparametric Gaussian copula graphical models³, and dietary communities were identified using the Louvain algorithm⁴. Dietary networks were constructed for the overall sample and separately for women and men. We derived individual-level dietary community scores and assessed their associations with all-cause mortality using multivariable-adjusted Cox models. LE across community scores was estimated using abridged life tables.
RESULTS:
Sex-specific dietary networks revealed distinct community structures: women had unique communities centered on whole fruit and eggs, whereas men had communities centered on fast food and solid fats. The overall network identified three major communities: Vegetable-Rich (VR), High-Sugary Beverage and Low Fruit (HSBLF), and High-Fat Breakfast (HFB). Higher VR scores were associated with lower mortality both in females (HR 0.41; 95%CI: 0.26–0.63) and males (HR 0.52; 95%CI: 0.33–0.81). Higher HSBLF scores were associated with higher mortality in males (HR 1.39; 95%CI: 1.03–1.88), with no significant association in females. LE at 45 years was longer with higher VR scores and lower HSBLF/HFB scores, with gains of 1.0–8.3 years in females and 0.8–6.1 years in males.
DISCUSSION:
Network analysis identified dietary communities with distinct food combinations and sex-specific network structures, with community scores differentially associated with mortality and LE in women and men. These scores offer actionable targets for tailored dietary counseling and may help inform population-level healthy living strategies.
Unhealthy diets were major modifiable risk factors for mortality¹. Dietary assessment was essential, yet conventional approaches had limited ability to capture direct food–food relationships². Network-based evidence on sex differences in dietary patterns and their links to mortality remains limited. We constructed dietary networks in Canadian adults, identified dietary communities, and examined associations with mortality and life expectancy (LE) in sex-stratified analyses.
METHODS:
Individual-level data came from the Canadian Community Health Survey–Nutrition 2004 (linked with health administrative databases) and 2015. Food–food conditional dependencies were estimated using semiparametric Gaussian copula graphical models³, and dietary communities were identified using the Louvain algorithm⁴. Dietary networks were constructed for the overall sample and separately for women and men. We derived individual-level dietary community scores and assessed their associations with all-cause mortality using multivariable-adjusted Cox models. LE across community scores was estimated using abridged life tables.
RESULTS:
Sex-specific dietary networks revealed distinct community structures: women had unique communities centered on whole fruit and eggs, whereas men had communities centered on fast food and solid fats. The overall network identified three major communities: Vegetable-Rich (VR), High-Sugary Beverage and Low Fruit (HSBLF), and High-Fat Breakfast (HFB). Higher VR scores were associated with lower mortality both in females (HR 0.41; 95%CI: 0.26–0.63) and males (HR 0.52; 95%CI: 0.33–0.81). Higher HSBLF scores were associated with higher mortality in males (HR 1.39; 95%CI: 1.03–1.88), with no significant association in females. LE at 45 years was longer with higher VR scores and lower HSBLF/HFB scores, with gains of 1.0–8.3 years in females and 0.8–6.1 years in males.
DISCUSSION:
Network analysis identified dietary communities with distinct food combinations and sex-specific network structures, with community scores differentially associated with mortality and LE in women and men. These scores offer actionable targets for tailored dietary counseling and may help inform population-level healthy living strategies.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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