Foods eaten outside the home: nutrient contribution to total diet.

Abstract

The National Food Survey provides a valuable supply of information on the intake of food and nutrients in the British diet (Derry & Bus, 1984), but is confined to foods brought into the home. The present study examined nutrient contribution from foods eaten outside the home to the overall diet. Seventy subjects (35 males and 35 females), were selected from a local health centre register, using age and sex as criteria, and asked to keep a written record of everything consumed for three days. There was a very high percentage of all subjects eating out over the three days. There was a very high percentage of all subjects eating out over the three days, but most of this food could be classed as ‘casual’, or of the ‘non‐meal’ category i.e. snacks. Employment was a significant determinant of frequency of eating out. The food groups contributing more highly to nutrient intake away from home were meats, sugars and preserves, alcoholic beverages, fish and chips. Energy from sugar, measured as sugar density, was significantly higher in ‘away’ foods, but fibre density and protein as a percentage of energy was higher in foods eaten at home. The percentage energy form nutrients to total energy did not differ greatly when alcoholic beverages were excluded from the data, apart from redistribution of the energy from alcohol between the other nutrients. The results show that foods eaten outside the future research on ‘out of home’ eating habits would benefit from inclusion of nutritional analysis.

The temporal pattern of the contribution of fat to energy and of food groups to fat at various eating locations: implications for developing food-based dietary guidelines

“…Similar findings were reported in other studies. Loughridge et al 28 showed that meats and chips contributed 24% and 11%, respectively, to fat intake outside the home. This study is rather dated and it is possible that eating patterns may have changed; however, as there is a paucity of research in this area, it is important to make comparisons with papers that are available.…”

The influence of eating location on nutrient intakes in Irish adults: implications for developing food-based dietary guidelines

“…Some had a detailed breakdown of the FSS 2,6,9,13,14,36 , while other studies did not need to categorise the locations as they focused on fast food only 5,7 . None of the above studies analysed the possibility of underreporting, with only two studies acknowledging that it may need to be taken into account.…”

“…The sample size used in the various studies varied greatly from 70 respondents 13 to 63 880 respondents 36 , with the latter based on a number of surveys in the USA. Most of the studies had a population of between 1000 and 3500 respondents.…”

“…(examining consumption at home and in restaurants) and Loughridge et al 13 all reported that the contribution of carbohydrate to energy outside the home was below the recommendations 12 .…”

Eating location is associated with the nutritional quality of the diet in Norwegian adults

“…International studies have found that food eaten out of home tends to have a less healthy profile, e.g. a higher density of fat, saturated fat, sugar and alcohol, than food consumed at home (4,6,7) . Eating out of home has also been associated with obesity and weight gain (8)(9)(10)(11) .…”