To describe the association of socio-economic, demographic and lifestyle characteristics with three eating patterns identified among low-income adults living in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, Brazil.

Data were obtained in a population-based cross-sectional study. The analysed patterns were: (i) ‘Mixed’, in which diverse foods had similar factor loadings; (ii) ‘Western’, which included items with high energy density; and (iii) ‘Traditional’, which relied in rice and beans, traditional staple foods in Brazil. Hierarchical logistic analysis was performed to estimate the association between the independent variables and each one of the dietary patterns. The variables that presented statistical significance <0·20 in the univariate analysis (χ2 test) were included in the multivariate models.

Duque de Caxias, a low-income area in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan region, Brazil.

Adults (n 1009) aged 20 to 65 years (339 men and 670 women).

The ‘Mixed’ pattern was positively associated with smoking (OR = 1·58, 95 % CI 1·00, 2·48 for current smoking v. those who never smoked). The ‘Western’ pattern was positively associated with family income (OR = 3·00, 95 % CI 1·81, 4·97 for those with monthly per capita family income ≥1·0 v. <0·5 times the official Brazilian minimum wage) and inversely associated with family food insecurity (OR = 0·55, 95 % CI 0·36, 0·84). The ‘Traditional’ pattern was associated with family food insecurity (OR = 1·79, 95 % CI 1·27, 2·51).

The results support previous findings relating improvement in economic conditions to reduced adherence to the traditional Brazilian food consumption pattern based on the combination of rice and beans.