An index of diet and eating patterns is a valid measure of diet quality in an Australian population

Diet indices represent an integrated approach to assessing eating patterns and behaviors. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive food-based dietary index to reflect adherence to healthy eating recommendations, evaluate the construct validity of the index using nutrient intakes, and evaluate this index in relation to sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, risk factors, and self-assessed health status. Data were analyzed from adult participants of the Australian National Nutrition Survey who completed a 108-item FFQ and a food habits questionnaire (n = 8220). The dietary guideline index (DGI) consisted of 15 items reflecting the dietary guidelines, including dietary indicators of vegetables and legumes, fruit, total cereals, meat and alternatives, total dairy, beverages, sodium, saturated fat, alcoholic beverages, and added sugars. Diet quality was incorporated using indicators relating to whole-grain cereals, lean meat, reduced/low fat dairy, and dietary variety. We investigated associations between the DGI score, sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, chronic disease risk factors, and nutrient intakes. We found associations between the DGI scores and sex, age, income, area-level socioeconomic disadvantage, smoking, physical activity, waist:hip ratio, systolic blood pressure (males only), and self-assessed health status (females only) (all P < 0.05). Higher DGI scores were associated with lower intakes of energy, total fat, and saturated fat and higher intakes of fiber, β-carotene, vitamin C, folate, calcium, and iron (P < 0.05). This food-based dietary index is able to discriminate across a variety of sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and self-assessed health and reflects intakes of key nutrients.

Dietary patterns of adolescents and risk of obesity and hypertension

Increasingly, measures of dietary patterns have been used to capture the complex nature of dietary intake and investigate its association with health. Certain dietary patterns may be important in the prevention of chronic disease; however, there are few investigations in adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe the dietary patterns of adolescents and their associations with sociodemographic factors, nutrient intakes, and behavioral and health outcomes. Analysis was conducted using data collected in the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey of participants aged 12–18 y who completed a 108-item FFQ (n = 764). Dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis and associations with sociodemographic factors and behavioral and health outcomes investigated. Factor analysis revealed 3 dietary patterns labeled a fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern; a high fat and sugar pattern; and a vegetables pattern, which explained 11.9, 5.9, and 3.9% of the variation in food intakes, respectively. The high fat and sugar pattern was positively associated with being male (P < 0.001), the vegetables pattern was positively associated with rural region of residence (P = 0.004), and the fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern was inversely associated with age (P = 0.03). Dietary patterns were not associated with socioeconomic indicators. The fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern was inversely associated with diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.0025) after adjustment for age, sex, and physical activity in adolescents ≥16 y. This study suggests that specific dietary patterns are already evident in adolescence and a dietary pattern rich in fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern may be associated with diastolic blood pressure in older adolescents.

Is the perception of time pressure a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity among women?

Objectives To describe the proportion of women reporting time is a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity, the characteristics of these women and the perceived causes of time pressure, and to examine associations between perceptions of time as a barrier and consumption of fruit, vegetables and fast food, and physical activity.
Design A cross-sectional survey of food intake, physical activity and perceived causes of time pressure.
Setting A randomly selected community sample.
Subjects A sample of 1580 women self-reported their food intake and their perceptions of the causes of time pressure in relation to healthy eating. An additional 1521 women self-reported their leisure-time physical activity and their perceptions of the causes of time pressure in relation to physical activity.
Results Time pressure was reported as a barrier to healthy eating by 41 % of the women and as a barrier to physical activity by 73 %. Those who reported time pressure as a barrier to healthy eating were significantly less likely to meet fruit, vegetable and physical activity recommendations, and more likely to eat fast food more frequently.
Conclusions Women reporting time pressure as a barrier to healthy eating and physical activity are less likely to meet recommendations than are women who do not see time pressure as a barrier. Further research is required to understand the perception of time pressure issues among women and devise strategies to improve women’s food and physical activity behaviours.