Influence of gender and socio-economic status on dietary patterns and nutrient intakes in 18-year-old Australians

Abstract

A therosclerosis has its origins in childhood and tracking of risk factors for cardiovascular disease from childhood to adult life is re~ognised.'-~ Adoption of healthy behaviours early in life has been encouraged with the aim of reducing later risk of cardiovascular d i~e a s e .~ In childhood, dietary behaviour is largely influenced by family eating patterns but, during adolescence, changes in health-related behaviour and attitudes affect dietary choices in young Diet-related behaviour in young adults is likely to influence both their own health and that of their children. It is therefore important to provide a basis for nutritional health promotion in young adults by documenting their dietary practices and identifying areas where strategies can be focused. In this study, we examined cross-sectional data obtained from 1 8-year-old Western Australians to compare their diet-related behaviour with national dietary guidelines and to identify groups at risk for sub-optimal dietary behaviours. Subjects and methodsIn 1994, acohort of 18-year-olds who had been participating for nine years in a longitudinal study of cardiovascular risk factors were re-surveyed.8 In 1985, when participants were nine years old, surveys began at Perth schools, randomly chosen after stratification by socio-economic group, at which all children in Year 6 were invited to take part. School-based surveys continued at three-yearly intervals. Initial recruitment included 1,066, 9-year-old children and in 1988, further recruiting at randomly chosen schools increased the sample size to 1,565 students. Participants were re-surveyed in 1991 without additional recruitment. Electronic databases and previous known addresses were used to trace previous participants for the most recent survey in 1994. They were invited to participate by letters explaining the importance of continuing to take part in the study and including consent forms for their own signature if they had reached their 18th birthday or to be signed by their parent or guardian for younger subjects. The study was approved by the University of Western Australia Committee for Human Rights.Between July and September 1994, dietary intakes were assessed using two consecutive weekday 24-hour diet records. Subjects were familiar with this procedure, having completed diet records in previous surveys. Foods were either weighed or measured before consumption using cups, spoons or rulers. Nutrient content was determined using Xyris software (Xyris, Brisbane, Queensland) which is based on N U n A B 9 1-92.y Data are presented as the mean of the intake over the two days of the diet records.Diet records included alcohol consumption for this two-day period. Questionnaires elicited whether participants were smokers, with even occasional smoking leading to classification as a smoker based on the findings of Owen et al. showing that healthrelated behaviours in low-rate smokers resemble those of smokers rather than nonsmokers.I0 Usual drinking habits were also elicited by questionnaire, with participants bei...

Potential renal acid load in the diet of children and adolescents: impact of food groups, age and time trends

“…As in the sample of British adolescents 13 , significant gender differences were found in our study sample, indicated by a lower overall intake of PRAL in girls and partly gender-specific age trends of food intake. Such 'healthier' food choices and preferences in girls were also reported for different age groups in several other studies [15][16][17][18] .…”

Dietary patterns of Australian adults and their association with socioeconomic status: results from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey

“…For example, in previous studies of the Australian population those of lower SES have been shown to consume a greater proportion of their energy as refined sugars (Baghurst et al, 1989), and have a diet higher in fat density (Baghurst et al, 1990;Milligan, et al, 1998;Smith & Owen, 1992;Webb et al, 1999), lower in fibre density (Baghurst et al, 1990;Smith & Owen, 1992;Webb et al, 1999), and lower in density of intake for a range of micronutrients (Baghurst et al, 1990;Milligan et al, 1998;Webb et al, 1999). Socioeconomic differentials in intakes have been observed in other developed countries including the USA (Shimakawa et al, 1994;Wynn, 1987), Sweden (Wallstrom et al, 2000;Wamala et al, 1999), the UK (Bartley et al, 2000;Thompson et al, 1993), and elsewhere in Europe (Irala-Estevez et al, 2000).…”

Convenience foods in children's diet and association with dietary quality and body weight status

“…Several studies showed their widespread use in children (Northstone and Emmett, 2005;Alexy et al, 2008;Pryer and Rogers, 2009), adolescents (Milligan et al, 1998) and adults (Pryer et al, 2001;Johnson-Down et al, 2006) in western countries.…”

“…Dietary surveys that examine the association between CF and food intake or nutrient intake are scare, but pointed to unfavourable dietary habits (Milligan et al, 1998;Pryer et al, 2001;Pryer and Rogers, 2009). In addition, the energy dense (ED), which refers to the amount of energy in a given weight of food (kJ per gram), of typical CF products, such as pizza, is high.…”