Smoking, alcohol, and dietary choices: evidence from the Portuguese National Health Survey

Abstract

BackgroundUnhealthy lifestyle choices tend to cluster, but controversy remains regarding relationships between smoking and dietary habits. The aim of this study was to compare dietary intake and alcohol consumption, according to smoking status, in the Portuguese population.MethodsThe study sample included all participants in the third Portuguese National Health Survey who were older than 19 years (20,302 women and 17,923 men).Participants were selected from households in the five regions of Portugal (NUTS II classification), using a multi-stage random probability design. Trained interviewers conducted face-to-face interviews in each household and obtained information on social and demographic characteristics, lifestyle and health, smoking, and intakes of selected food and beverages. Age-adjusted and education-adjusted binomial and multinomial logistic regression models were fitted separately for males and females, to estimate the magnitude of the association between smoking and the consumption of various food and beverage groups.ResultsWhen heavy smokers were compared with non-smokers, the odds ratio (OR) favouring soup consumption was 0.60 (95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: 0.54–0.68) in males and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.33–0.65) in females. Similar ORs were observed for vegetables (males: OR = 0.56, 95%CI: 0.49–0.64; females: OR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.32–0.69) and fruit (males: OR = 0.36, 95%CI: 0.31–0.41; females: OR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.19–0.44). Overall, these food items were consumed at significantly lower levels as cigarette consumption increased. Heavy male smokers, compared to non-smokers, presented lower odds favouring milk consumption (OR = 0.89; 95%CI: 0.67–0.89). When heavy smokers were compared with non-smokers, the ORs favouring wine drinking, among heavy drinkers, were 1.47 (95%CI: 1.27–1.70) in men and 3.97 (95%CI: 2.07–7.61) in women. Similar ORs were observed for beer (males: OR = 3.30; 95%CI: 2.87–3.78; females: OR = 23.1; 95%CI: 12.2–43.6), Port wine (males: OR = 2.21 95%CI: 1.65–2.98; females: OR = 2.85; 95%CI: 0.68–12.1), brandy (males: OR = 3.67 95%CI: 2.98–4.52; females: OR = 13.2; 95%CI: 3.72–46.6) and whisky (males: OR = 3.31; 95%CI: 2.71–4.03; females: OR = 41.4; 95%CI: 18.5–92.5).ConclusionThis study showed that smokers have a higher intake of alcoholic beverages and a lower consumption of food items rich in fibre, antioxidants, or phytochemicals, which are suspected to have beneficial roles in the prevention of multiple chronic diseases.

Consumo de frutas e hortaliças por adultos em Ribeirão Preto, SP

“…Nonetheless, the adoption of the "frequency of intake of fruits and vegetables (number of times/day)" indicator is very common in the world literature. 3,5,[21][22][23] In the present study, daily intake of vegetables was higher among non-smoking males, when compared to smokers, a result similar to those found in studies with British 4 and Portuguese men and women, 20 where the smoking habit was strongly associated with low daily intake of fruits and vegetables. An association between the minimum intake of fruits and vegetables recommended and the variables related to lifestyle was not found, as observed in the American study.…”

“…10,18,21,23 Less frequent in the literature, however, are the studies that investigate the infl uence of types of behavior associated with the lifestyle of individuals on intake of fruits and vegetables. 4,20,22 Thus, aiming to contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the dietary pattern and measures that promote the adoption of healthy eating habits in the population, the objective of present study was to assess the intake of fruits and vegetables by adults and identify its association with sociodemographic, lifestyle and nutritional status variables. The sampling plan was based on three-stage cluster sampling, with a precision of estimates calculated in a sample of 1,205 individuals, corresponding to sampling errors fi xed at approximately 2% (for prevalences lower than 15% or higher than 75%) and at approximately 3% (for prevalences between 20% and 80%).…”

Caffeine Intake is Associated with a Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline: A Cohort Study from Portugal

“…This is in keeping with our observation of a lower RR for the association between caffeine and cognitive decline among male non-smokers. Such an interaction could also contribute to explain an overall smaller beneficial effect of caffeine among men, more frequently smokers [48,49], observed in our study as well as by Ritchie et al [12].…”

Prevalence, incidence and risk factors for Helicobacter pylori infection in a cohort of Portuguese adolescents (EpiTeen)

“…The fact that tobacco smoking is associated with other lifestyles and with nutritional status [41][42][43][44] may contribute to the conflicting PR, prevalence ratio; 95%CI, 95% confidence interval. a Adjusted for parental education (highest educational level achieved by any one of the parents).…”