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Dietary patterns among older Europeans: the EPIC-Elderly study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Christina Bamia ,
Philippos Orfanos ,
Pietro Ferrari ,
Kim Overvad ,
Heidi H. Hundborg ,
Anne Tjønneland ,
Anja Olsen ,
Emmanuelle Kesse ,
Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault  and
Françoise Clavel-Chapelon
...Show all authors
Christina Bamia
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece
Philippos Orfanos
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece
Pietro Ferrari
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon Cedex 08, France
Kim Overvad
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
Heidi H. Hundborg
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
Anne Tjønneland
Affiliation:
Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
Anja Olsen
Affiliation:
Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
Emmanuelle Kesse
Affiliation:
Equipe E3N-EPIC, INSERM, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif Cedex, Paris, France
Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault
Affiliation:
Institut Scientifique et Technique de l'Alimentation et de la Nutrition, INSERM U557, CNAM 5, Paris, France
Françoise Clavel-Chapelon
Affiliation:
Equipe E3N-EPIC, INSERM, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif Cedex, Paris, France
Gabriele Nagel
Affiliation:
Division of Clinical Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
Paolo Boffetta
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon Cedex 08, France Division of Clinical Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
Heiner Boeing
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany
Kurt Hoffmann
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany
Dimitrios Trichopoulos
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
Nikos Baibas
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece
Theodora Psaltopoulou
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece
Teresa Norat
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon Cedex 08, France
Nadia Slimani
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon Cedex 08, France
Domenico Palli
Affiliation:
Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit CSPO-Scientific Institute of Tuscany, Florence, Italy
Vittorio Krogh
Affiliation:
Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy
Salvatore Panico
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale Federico II University Naples, Italy
Rosario Tumino
Affiliation:
Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera "Civile M.P. Arezzo", Ragusa, Italy
Carlotta Sacerdote
Affiliation:
Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
H. B. Bueno-de-Mesquita
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Marga C. Ocké
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Petra H. Peeters
Affiliation:
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Caroline T. van Rossum
Affiliation:
Centre for Nutrition and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
José-Ramón Quirós
Affiliation:
Dirección General de Salud Pública, Consejería de Salud y Servicios Sanitarios de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain
Maria-José Sánchez
Affiliation:
Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada Cancer Registry, Granada, Spain
Carmen Navarro
Affiliation:
Epidemiology Department, Murcia Health Council, Murcia, Spain
Aurelio Barricarte
Affiliation:
Public Health Institute, Navarra, Spain
Miren Dorronsoro
Affiliation:
Public Health Division of Gipuzkoa, Health Department of Basque Country, San Sebastian, Spain
Göran Berglund
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Surgery and Orthopaedics, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
Elisabet Wirfält
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Surgery and Orthopaedics, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
Göran Hallmans
Affiliation:
Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Nutritional Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Ingegerd Johansson
Affiliation:
Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Nutritional Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Sheila Bingham
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK
Kay-Tee Khaw
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Elizabeth A. Spencer
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Andrew W. Roddam
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Elio Riboli
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon Cedex 08, France
Antonia Trichopoulou*
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, M. Asias 75, Athens 11527, Greece
*
*Corresponding author: Professor Antonia Trichopoulou, fax +30 210 746 2079, email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Overall dietary patterns have been associated with health and longevity. We used principal component (PC) and cluster analyses to identify the prevailing dietary patterns of 99 744 participants, aged 60 years or older, living in nine European countries and participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Elderly cohort) and to examine their socio-demographic and lifestyle correlates. Two PC were identified: PC1 reflects a ‘vegetable-based’ diet with an emphasis on foods of plant origin, rice, pasta and other grain rather than on margarine, potatoes and non-alcoholic beverages. PC2 indicates a ‘sweet- and fat-dominated’ diet with a preference for sweets, added fat and dairy products but not meat, alcohol, bread and eggs. PC1 was associated with a younger age, a higher level of education, physical activity, a higher BMI, a lower waist:hip ratio and never and past smoking. PC2 was associated with older age, less education, never having smoked, a lower BMI and waist:hip ratio and lower levels of physical activity. Elderly individuals in southern Europe scored positively on PC1 and about zero on PC2, whereas the elderly in northern Europe scored negatively on PC1 and variably on PC2. The results of cluster analysis were compatible with the indicated dietary patterns. ‘Vegetable-based’ and a ‘sweet- and fat-dominated’ diets are prevalent among the elderly across Europe, and there is a north–south gradient regarding their dietary choices. Our study contributes to the identification of groups of elderly who are likely to have different prospects for long-term disease occurrence and survival.

Keywords

Dietary patternsElderlyCohort study
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 94 , Issue 1 , July 2005 , pp. 100 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2005

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