Demographic and dietary profiles of high and low fat consumers in Australia.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the socio-demographic, attitudinal, and dietary correlates of high and low fat consumption in the community. DESIGN: The study was undertaken using a postal survey format. A questionnaire was sent for self completion to a randomised sample of the adult population of two Australian states. PARTICIPANTS: Adult participants were selected randomly from the Electoral Rolls of the states of Victoria and South Australia. As voting at elections is compulsory in Australia, these rolls contain the names of all Australian citizens over the age of 18 years. Altogether 3209 respondents completed the survey giving a response rate of 67%. MAIN RESULTS: Lower than average fat consumption was more common in women. Age was a significant factor only in men. Occupation was not related to lower than average fat consumption but manual work and low occupational prestige were linked to higher than average consumption in men. People with a history of conditions related to heart disease were more likely to be low consumers but medical history did not distinguish high from average consumers. Low fat consumption was linked to higher refined and natural sugar consumption and higher alcohol consumption, but protein and complex carbohydrate consumption did not vary with fat consumption. Low fat diets also had higher densities of fibre and most vitamins and minerals, the exceptions being retinol, zinc, and vitamin B12, nutrients generally linked to meat and dairy consumption. Of the latter, only the low zinc concentrations, which are already borderline in the community, pose a potential nutritional problem. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed very strong links between dietary fat intake and the intake of nearly all other nutrients in the diet. The results highlight the need to consider relationships between nutrients not only for purposes of nutrition education but also in relation to nutritional epidemiology studies.

Public perceptions of the role of dietary and other environmental factors in cancer causation or prevention.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to establish the public's perception of the relative importance of various environmental risk factors for cancer. DESIGN: A postal survey was undertaken using a questionnaire to assess the public's knowledge of cancer morbidity and mortality and the role of lifestyle and genetic risk factors. Sociodemographic data were also collected. SETTING: The survey was completed in the state of South Australia. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 1500 names were selected from the electoral rolls of the state. These rolls contain the names of all Australian citizens over the age of 18 years. A response rate of 73% was achieved. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The results of the survey showed that the knowledge base of the community was generally high, with few differences across sociodemographic groups. The relative importance of cancer as a contributor to mortality was, however, overestimated and the potential for "cure" underestimated. The role of both diet and cigarette smoking in cancer promotion was widely recognised but there was an overemphasis on the importance of pollution of the food supply compared to imbalance of nutrients. Respondents were more able to assign risk in relation to diet using a food based assessment, compared to a nutrient approach. There was wide acceptability that lifestyle change could have a profound effect on the cancer profile of the community. CONCLUSIONS: With the relatively high degree of awareness and acceptance of lifestyle factors as cancer risk determinants, campaigns which involve skill transfer and removal of barriers to change would appear to be the most relevant approach to improvement in community behaviour.

Sociodemographic determinants in Australia of the intake of food and nutrients implicated in cancer aetiology.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the role that diet can play in the promotion, retardation or amelioration of the cancer process. This has led to the development of dietary guidelines for cancer prevention by health authorities in several Western societies. However, there is still limited information about the sociodemographic determinants of intake of foods and nutrients of interest in many of these countries. A study of the dietary intake of a random sample of residents of the State of Victoria in Australia showed that women, those in the older age groups and in the higher occupational ranks, had diets more in line with current recommendations for cancer prevention--the most marked differences being between men and women. However, the sociodemographic differences were relatively small compared with the low rate of overall compliance with the guidelines.

Intakes and sources of a range of dietary sugars in various Australian populations.

Data from the Apparent Consumption of Foodstuffs publications of the Australian Bureau of Statistics have, until recently, been the major source of information in Australia about the consumption of refined sugars. This database, which relies on national figures for production, importation, export, storage and stocks, and on population statistics, had indicated that some 14% of the total energy that was available in Australia was derived from refined sugars. Similar figures have been derived for both the United States and United Kingdom by means of this kind of national food-availability database. However, a recent reanalysis of a large-scale dietary survey of individuals in the United States has indicated a much lower level of consumption of refined sugars. In recent years, several large-scale surveys of individuals' consumption patterns in the Australian population have been carried out by the Social Nutrition Program at the CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition. These surveys indicate that the mean level of consumption of refined sugars is not as high as that which previously was estimated from Apparent Consumption data. However, there was a wide range of intakes and a substantial proportion of individuals with intakes that were above recommended levels.

The Victorian Nutrition Survey--intakes and sources of dietary fats and cholesterol in the Victorian population.

A random State-wide nutrition survey of the population of Victoria that was carried out in late 1985 demonstrated that the total fat and saturated fat intake of Australians had changed little since studies that were carried out in the 1970s. However, since that time, there has been a considerable increase in the contribution of polyunsaturated fats with a consequent improvement in the polyunsaturated-to-saturated fatty-acid ratio in the diet. The survey was carried out by means of a postal technique and a semiquantified food-frequency questionnaire which allows for the characterization of usual dietary intake in individuals. The survey served to highlight the value of collecting nutrient, food and food-habits data in the same individuals and demonstrated that relatively cost-effective surveys of this type make feasible the regular continuing surveillance of the usual nutrient intakes of large numbers of individuals.

Repeatability of interview-derived socio-demographic and medical information.

In this report, the repeatability of socio-demographic and medical information elicited by means of an interviewer-administered questionnaire is examined. One hundred and seven women who were controls in case-control studies of breast disease were re-interviewed approximately one year after initial interview. Both interviews addressed the same time period, namely that which preceded the first interview. For most of the quantitative variables studied, at least 70% of individuals provided two estimates (original and repeat) which were within one unit of each other. Also, comparison of the categorization of individuals on repeated measurements of qualitative variables (reports of events, operations and habits) revealed that most individuals were categorized consistently. This strong agreement between the original and repeat estimates was also reflected in the relatively high values of the summary measures of agreement (the intraclass correlation coefficient for quantitative variables and the Kappa statistic for qualitative variables) for most of the variables studied. The results of the present study on repeatability complement the results of previous research into the criterion validity of questionnaire-derived information and, taken together, suggest that information of relatively high quality may be obtained from such sources.

The vitamin and mineral intake of a free-living young elderly Australian population in relation to total diet and supplementation practices.

Although there have been several studies of the nutritional intake and status of elderly sections of industrialized countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia, most of these studies relate to institutionalized elderly or those receiving social support such as meals-on-wheels. The study reported here presents the results of a dietary survey of a randomly selected group of free-living younger elderly residents of Adelaide, Australia. Mean intakes for most nutrients were equal to or above the recommended intakes. The proportion of subjects 'at risk' was not as high as reported for less able elderly groups but the nutrients 'at risk' were similar, namely: folate, calcium, vitamin B6, zinc, magnesium and copper. Comparisons with the results of two other random surveys of free-living elderly residents of Boston and Gothenburg showed some variation in total intakes especially amongst women but many similarities in the patterns of nutrient density and nutrients 'at risk'.

Nutrient intake, blood pressure, serum and urinary prostaglandins and serum thromboxane B2 in a controlled trial with a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet.

Fifty-nine healthy omnivores volunteered for a randomized crossover trial with a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (L-O-V) diet. Twenty-one 1-day diet records were kept throughout the project as a means of assessing food and nutrient intakes, and samples of serum and urine were assayed to evaluate change in prostanoid metabolism. While on the L-O-V diet subjects ate more vegetable protein, wholegrain cereals, polyunsaturated oils, fruits and vegetables, and avoided eating meat, fish or poultry. The L-O-V diet contained significantly more polyunsaturated fatty acids, fibre, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, calcium and potassium, and less total protein, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and vitamin B12 than the control omnivore diet. Changes in nutrient intakes were subjected to principal components analysis to identify dimensions of change in nutrient intakes. Three Factors accounted for 83% of the total variation in dietary intake. Blood pressure changes were significantly and negatively (F = 17.4, P less than 0.001 for systolic; F = 6.09, P = 0.02 for diastolic pressure) related to individual scores for only one Factor--that representing an increase in intake of polyunsaturated fat, fibre, vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium and magnesium, and a fall in intake of protein and vitamin B12. Blood pressure changes were unrelated to change in body weight or sodium intake. Serum and urinary prostanoids were not affected by eating the L-O-V diet.

Dietary zinc intake of pre-menopausal women.

Assessment of the diets of 73 pre-menopausal women completing dietary frequency questionnaires suggests that 11 per cent consume a daily average of less than 7.5 mg of zinc. A further 26 per cent consume less than 10 mg of zinc daily, an amount considered to approximate the average daily requirement. Dietary records from a second group of 18 working women (aged less than 35 y), covering periods from 6 to 76 days are also analysed. Of these, the zinc intake of 8 women averages less than 7.5 mg/day. The apparent zinc intake of all women shows large day-to-day fluctuations. The presence of such wide variability within individual eating patterns suggests that short-term estimates of dietary zinc intake cannot provide a reliable estimate of overall zinc nutriture.