Disparities in food habits in Europe: Systematic review of educational and occupational differences in the intake of fat

I. López-Azpiazu, Almudena Sánchez-Villegas*, Lars Johansson, J. Petkeviciene, Ritva Prättälä, Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, Margit Groth, Christianne Hupkens, Sören Jansson, Anu Kasmel, Jurate Klumbiené, J. Alfredo Martínez, Ada Naska, Michael Nelson, Ulrich Oltersdorf, Anne Marie Remaut-De Winter, Gun Roos, Wlodzimierz Sekula, Antonia Trichopoulou, Kerstin TryggSharon Friel, Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez, Juan Llopis, Aurelio Barricarte

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    78 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Background. A higher socio-economic level is associated with healthier dietary habits. Nevertheless, socio-economic differences in the intake of fat have not consistently been reported in Europe. The objective of our study was to systematically assess differences in total fat (TF) intake and saturated fat (SF) intake across social groups. Methods. Representative samples from nine European countries were used to perform a meta-analysis of surveys between 1985-1999, including both published and nonpublished results. Results. Because important heterogeneity was found and the estimates for TF from Spain and Estonia were different from all others, we calculated the differences in intake excluding these two countries. We found a lower TF intake in the highest (versus the lowest) occupational level both for men (difference: -1.1% of total energy intake; 95% CI: -1.3 to -0.8%) and women (difference: -0.9%; 95% CI: -1.2 to -0.6%) when Estonia and Spain were excluded. Conclusion. European surveys indicate that people in the lowest category of occupation consume more fat and SF than people in the highest category.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)349-364
    Number of pages16
    JournalJournal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
    Volume16
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2003

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