No abstract

Dietary, clinical, and biochemical data from the Ten-State Nutrition Survey (1968 to 1970) and the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (1971 to 1974), have been reexamined by factor analysis to focus attention on eating patterns as a means of relating food intake to health. The seven statistically different eating patterns generated were characterized by disproportionate consumption of different food groups. The relationship between the combination of foods that people ate and the state of their nutritional health was examined for both samples in total, and for various age, sex, race, region, and income groups within the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I sample. Significantly different associations between the seven eating patterns and the absence of clinical symptoms and biochemical deficiencies were found. Some eating patterns consistently stood out as being significantly better or worse in this regard (p less than 0.05). This food eating pattern model should prove useful for 1) examining the association between food consumption and the incidence of disease states, such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and periodontal disease for various large scale dietary-health surveys, 2) establishing food regulatory policies, 3) setting national dietary goals, and 4) educating the public on nutrition and health issues.

The relationships between systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and select demographic, dietary, life-style, and anthropometric variables were examined for a specialized sample of 10,419 adults, 18 years and over, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) I conducted in 1971-1974. The bivariate relationships of blood pressure to each of the measurements above were examined using zero-order correlation coefficients, and Step-wise linear regression. Age and body mass index (BMI) played a major role in accounting for most of the variance in blood pressure. These two indices alone accounted for 94.5% and 89.0% of the variance in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In contrast, only 5.5% and 11.0% of the changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were explained by all other variables combined. Diet explained less than 1 % of the total variance observed for blood pressure for whites, and less than 5% for nonwhites. Select dietary variables such as sodium/potassium ratio, calories from fat, and % saturated fat were not significantly (p < 0.001) correlated to blood pressure. On the other hand, food calcium, sodium/calcium ratio, food vitamin C, and calcium/phosphorus ratio were significantly correlated to both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. (Hypertension 4 (supp III): III-135-III-142, 1982) KEY WORDS • diet • anthropometry • life style • demography • blood pressureB LOOD pressure is an important risk factor in cardiovascular mortality. 1 One in five persons (20.6%) in the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the U.S., 17 years of age and over, has been diagnosed as having hypertension. 2 Elevated blood pressure is linked to several factors including genetics, family history, obesity, and dietary intake. This study examines the relationship of blood pressure to demographic, dietary, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors in a select sample of the U.S. population. A brief review of each variable is provided.

No abstract

misleading and could only suggest to the reader that the source of the press leak was a member of one or other of our departments, which are regularly responsible for the care of the vast majority of HIV infected individuals in Birmingham. This is simply not true. Confidentiality is a fundamental tenet of the service we provide for HIV infected individuals and under no circumstances would we divulge a patient's name to the media-certainly not to provide "a focus around which to challenge... mounting complacency about AIDS," as suggested by Fitzpatrick. The article further implies that we have a "tendency to regard HIV infection as more a moral condition than a disease" and that we judge people with HIV and AIDS "according to the degree of their individual responsibility for their condition." This does not reflect the attitude of the doctors and other staff dedicated to caring for such people in Birmingham..