Intake and determinants of intake of whole grain foods in the Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Cecilie Kyrø1,2,3, Anja Olsen2, Guri Skeie3 & Lars Dragsted1
Background
Intake of whole grain foods has been associated with a lower risk of developing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, obesity and some types of cancer. Furthermore the intake of whole grain foods has been associated with socio-economic factors and a generally healthier lifestyle. Because of the numerous health benefits of whole grain, knowledge about the consumption and the determinants of the intake is needed. Much of the research on the health effects of whole grain foods has been done in the US. In the Scandinavian countries, however, the population consumes much more whole grain and therefore serves as a better basis for research on whole grain foods.
Objective
The objective of this study is to describe the intake of whole grain foods in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Furthermore the aim is to reveal the socio-economic and dietary determinants of the intake of whole grain foods.
Design
The present study is part of the joint Nordic initiative "HELGA" supported by NordForsk. The HELGA projects aims to evaluate health aspects related to whole grain foods. The established "HELGA cohort" consisting of the following three prospective cohorts was used in this study: The Norwegian Women and Cancer Study, the Northern Sweden Health and Disease study and the Danish Diet and Cancer cohort. The intake of whole grains was assessed by using data from 24-hour recalls on 8702 randomly picked participants from the entire HELGA cohort (n 120.017).
Statistics
The intakes were presented as medians with 5th and 95th percentiles. Multiple linear regression analyses were used for the determinant analyses with intake of whole grains as the dependent variable.
Results
The intake of whole grain foods (g whole grain product/day) seemed highest in Denmark and lowest in Sweden. For women, Norwegian women had the highest total whole grain products intake and Swedish women had the lowest. When looking at the intake of whole grains quantified in g whole grain per day, the lowest intake was found for Danes. For intake of whole grain products, the intake was lowest in Sweden. This implies that the whole grain density was higher in Sweden compared to Denmark. For women, the intake of total whole grain cereal was highest in Norway, and the intake was lowest in Denmark. The intake of whole grain was positively associated with a higher intake of vegetables, fruit and a higher intake of cheese. Also it was found that the intake was negatively associated with the intake of white bread and red meat and being a smoker. Altogether between 13% and 18% of the variation in the whole grain intake could be explained by dietary, lifestyle and socio-economic variables.
1Department of Human Nutrition, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, The Danish Cancer Society, Denmark
3Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø