Abstract. Objectives: Obesity plays an important role in the development of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. A low resting metabolic rate (RMR) for a given body size and composition is a risk factor for obesity, however, there is limited evidence available regarding the association of nutrient patterns and RMR. The aim of this study was to determine the association of nutrient patterns and RMR in overweight and obese women. Study design: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 360 women who were overweight or obese. Method: Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative standard food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Nutrient patterns were also extracted by principal components analysis (PCA). All participants were evaluated for their body composition, RMR, and blood parameters. Result: Three nutrient patterns explaining 64% of the variance in dietary nutrients consumption were identified as B-complex-mineral, antioxidant, and unsaturated fatty acid and vitamin E (USFA-vit E) respectively. Participants were categorized into two groups based on the nutrient patterns. High scores of USFA-vit E pattern was significantly associated with the increase of RMR (β = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.79 to 68.16, p = 0.04). No significant associations were found among B-complex-mineral pattern (β = −0.00, 95% CI = −49.67 to 46.03, p = 0.94) and antioxidant pattern (β = 0.03, 95% CI −41.42 to 22.59, p = 0.56) with RMR. Conclusion: Our results suggested that the “USFA-vit E” pattern (such as PUFA, oleic, linoleic, vit.E, α-tocopherol and EPA) was associated with increased RMR.
