Socioeconomic and demographic factors are associated with dietary patterns in a cohort of young Brazilian adults

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to identify the main dietary patterns among young adults and to investigate the association of socioeconomic and demographic factors, and social mobility with dietary patterns.MethodsData from the fourth follow-up of the 1978/79 Ribeirão Preto birth cohort study, Brazil, were used. A total of 2,061 young adults, whose mothers gave sociodemographic information at birth in 1978–79, provided sociodemographic and dietary data through a validated food frequency questionnaire in 2002–2004, when they were aged 23–25 years. Those whose caloric intake was outside of the ±3 standard deviation range were excluded, leaving 2,034 individuals. The dietary patterns were identified by principal component analysis followed by varimax orthogonal rotation. Poisson regression with robust estimation of variance was used to derive prevalence ratios (PR).ResultsFour dietary patterns were identified: healthy, traditional Brazilian, energy-dense and bar. In the adjusted analysis, individuals with higher schooling (≥12 years) in adult life (PR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.07-2.14) showed greater adherence whilst men (PR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.68-0.93) had lower adherence to the healthy pattern. The highest adherence to the traditional Brazilian pattern was found for men (PR = 2.39, 95% CI: 2.04-2.80), mullatos (PR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.21-1.64), households with ≥2 members, and for those with children (PR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.07-1.55) while individuals with higher schooling in adulthood (≥12 years) (PR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.34-0.65), higher family income in adulthood (≥20 MW) (PR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.33-0.99) and higher family income at birth (≥6.1 MW) showed lower adherence. The bar pattern was positively associated with male sex (PR = 2.96, 95% CI: 2.47-3.55) and low schooling (≤8 years). The energy-dense pattern was not associated with any of the variables investigated. Social mobility was associated with the traditional Brazilian pattern. Men and women who were not poor at birth and remained so in adulthood showed lower adherence to this pattern (PR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.53-0.94 for men and PR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20-0.80 for women).ConclusionsFour different dietary patterns were identified among young adults. Socioeconomic and demographic factors, and social mobility were associated with food choices.

Padrões alimentares e sua associação com fatores sociodemográficos e comportamentais: Pesquisa Saúde da Mulher 2015, São Leopoldo (RS)

“…Non-white women presented a higher probability of adherence to the Brazilian DP. These data corroborate other Brazilian studies that investigated both genders 37,38 . According to Arruda et al 37 , what could explain this result is the fact that beans, the most characteristic food of these patterns, were the main components of the diet of people of low socioeconomic status in the colonial period in Brazil.…”

Eating patterns in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil): an exploratory analysis

“…Meanwhile, the "fruit and vegetables" and "low sugar/low fat" patterns were more frequent among women, confirming the results of other studies in which consumption of healthy foods is reported more frequently by women and older adults 38,42 . Probably because of their greater concern with beauty, health and more frequent recourse to health services, these two sub-groups are more likely to be following specific recommendations for control of diabetes, dyslipidemias and weight control 43,44,45 .…”

“…The distribution of those patterns by sociodemographic characteristics of the ELSA-Brasil study population is similar to recent findings in the Brazilian literature. Although using different methods, Gimeno et al 37 observed greater frequency of the "healthy" pattern among women and older adults, while Marchioni et al 13 and Arruda et al 38 observed higher frequencies of the traditional pattern among men and among individuals with less schooling.…”

Socioeconomic predictors of dietary patterns among Guatemalan adults

“…Dietary patterns were further dichotomized to compare the highest quartile to the other three (i.e. highest quartile vs. others) (Arruda et al 2014). …”