Objectives: To investigate whether a modest number of food frequency questions are sufficient to describe sociodemographic differences in dietary habits, and to identify sociodemographic characteristics of subjects adhering to food-based dietary guidelines operationalised in a 'healthy-diet index'. Design: Cross-sectional population survey. Subjects: A total of 480 men, 515 women, aged 15-90 y. Random sample of private telephone numbers drawn from regional telephone records, geographically stratified. Participation rate 62%. Methods: Computer-assisted telephone interviews, including six food frequency questions, a question on type of fat spreads used on bread, questions on seven sociodemographic variables. Results: The summary of the healthy-diet index showed that the subjects who adhered to food-based dietary guidelines (top quintile) compared to those who did not (bottom quintile) were most often women (odds ratio (OR) ¼ 6.07; confidence interval (CI): 3.91-9.43, women vs men), of older age (OR ¼ 9.72; CI: 3.02-31.31, old age vs young), highly educated (OR ¼ 3.69; CI: 1.53-8.92, high education vs low) and living in multiperson households including children (OR ¼ 4.66; CI: 2.47-8.80, multiperson household vs single household). The results also showed that gender difference in dietary habits is associated with other sociodemographic variables. Conclusions: The selected food frequency questions proved sufficient to describe sociodemographic differences in dietary habits, and this method may be a valuable supplement to traditional quantitative dietary surveys in monitoring sociodemographic changes in eating patterns. The results also underline the influence of sociodemographic status on dietary habits.

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It is well known that early signs of eating disorders (EDs), such as dental erosion and enlarged salivary glands, may be recognized in the dental clinic. Dentists acknowledge that approaching a patient to discuss the suspicion of an ED is difficult. However, little is known about how persons with EDs experience and manage dental visits. Therefore, this study aimed to uncover knowledge, experience, and attitude of oral health and oral health behavior among persons with EDs. The study design was cross‐sectional and 260 persons with EDs completed an electronic questionnaire. The participants were generally concerned about their teeth. Some participants had anxiety around having severely and irreversibly damaged teeth, and many were overly occupied with oral hygiene procedures. One‐third of participants had good experiences regarding communication with a dentist, and about half of the participants wanted the dentist to address their EDs in the clinic. However, participants with less‐positive experiences stated that there is a need for dentists with specialized knowledge about EDs and communication skills that emphasize an open, empathic, recognition approach from the dentist toward patients with EDs. In addition, it may be advantageous to integrate dental advice and treatment as part of the treatment of EDs in line with psychological and medical therapy.

There were no apparent differences in the composition of blood and saliva between bulimia nervosa and control subjects, and meal-induced compositional changes in blood were not directly mirrored in saliva composition.

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