Comparison of reported dietary intakes between Caucasian and South Asian women and extent of under-reporting

Abstract

The traditional dietary habits of differing ethnic groups vary greatly; concomitantly nutritional intakes are also likely to vary. Knowledge of differences in nutritional intakes between ethnic groups is important for understanding associated health risks. There is limited data on dietary intakes and patterns of South Asian populations. The aim of this study was to compare nutritional intakes of two ethnic groups; Caucasian (Cauc) and South Asian (SA).Healthy Cauc and SA women, aged 20-64yrs, were recruited from the county of Surrey onto the D2-D3 study (1)(2)(3) and a sub-set of these women were used in these analyses: n47 Cauc and n47 SA women. Anthropometrics and four-day food diaries were collected at baseline, as part of the D2-D3 study. Under-reporting of dietary intakes were determined by calculating energy intake (EI) to basal metabolic rate (BMR) ratio, and ratios below 1·35 were classified as under-reported (4) . Dietary and statistical analyses were carried out using DietPlan6(2013) and SPSS21(2013) respectively.The Cauc women had significantly smaller waist circumferences than the SA women (Cauc:79·44 ± 11·33 cm vs. SA:87·62 ± 12·62 cm; p < 0·001), however BMI was not significantly different (Cauc: 24·60 ± 3·75 kg/m 2 vs. SA: 25·18 ± 3·85 kg/m 2 ). As shown in Table 1, there were significantly lower daily intakes of micro-nutrients in the SA women compared to the Cauc women.Under-reporting of dietary intakes was present in 46·8% of Cauc women and 57·4% of SA women, however there was no significant difference between ethnic groups (EI:BMR ratios: Cauc:1·40 ± 0·34; SA: 1·29 ± 0·38).These data suggest that although macro-nutrient intakes of these ethnic groups are similar, the foods from which these are sourced are likely to be different, thus contributing to the differences shown in micro-nutrient intakes. These differences in diets between the ethnic groups could be a contributing factor in the differing health and disease rates between ethnicities. The levels of under-reporting across both ethnic groups were high but nonetheless lower than those reported in our National surveys. Further analysis of the data is currently underway to investigate differences in intake when adjusted for total energy intake given

Dietary Patterns Associated with Abnormal Glucose Tolerance following Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The MyNutritype Study

“…The more prominent method to assess dietary patterns in women post-GDM appeared to be a priori, and assessed the adherence to dietary quality indices or healthy dietary guidelines including the alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), or alternate Healthy Eating Index (aHEI) [ 19 , 20 ]. Nonetheless, both of these studies used data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, which involved mostly Caucasian women [ 19 , 20 ], whose dietary quality, nutrient intakes, and food sources had been reported to be different compared to Asian women [ 21 , 22 ]. While a priori indices evaluate the healthiness of a diet based on existing dietary guidelines, they are restricted by existing knowledge of diet–disease relationships [ 17 ].…”