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A systematic review of socioeconomic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of cheese and milk

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 57, pages 917–929 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To assess differences in cheese and milk consumption across socioeconomic groups in representative samples from several European countries.

Design: A meta-analysis of published and unpublished surveys of food habits performed in nine European countries between 1985 and 1999. Educational and occupational levels were used as indicators of socio-economic status.

Results: A higher socioeconomic status was associated with a greater consumption of cheese. The pooled estimate of the difference in cheese consumption between women in the highest vs the lowest educational level was 9.0 g/day (95% CI: 7.1 to 11.0). The parallel observation in men was 6.8 g/day (95% CI: 3.4 to 10.1). Similar results were obtained using occupation as an indicator of socioeconomic status. The pooled estimates of the higher cheese consumption among subjects belonging to the highest (vs the lowest) occupational level were 5.1 g/day (95% CI: 3.7 to 6.5) in women and 4.6 g/day (95% CI: 2.1 to 7.0) in men. No statistically significant associations were found for milk consumption concerning educational or occupational level.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that consumption of cheese is likely to be higher among subjects belonging to higher socioeconomic levels. We did not find enough evidence to support that milk intake is different according to educational or social levels.

Sponsorship: FAIR-program of the European Union (project, FAIR-97-3096).

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the FAIR-program of the European Union (project, FAIR-97-3096). Other members of the FAIR-97-3096-project are: Margit Groth (Denmark), Christianne Hupkens (The Netherlands), Sören Jansson (Sweden), Lars Johansson (Norway), Anu Kasmel (Estonia), Jurate Klumbiené (Lithuania), Ada Naska (Greece), Michael Nelson (UK), Ulrich Oltersdorf (Germany), Anne-Marie Remaut-De Winter (Belgium), Wlodzimierz Sekula (Poland), Antonia Trichopoulou (Greece, project coordinator), Kerstin Trygg (Norway) and Sharon Friel (Ireland). We are also grateful to Jokin de Irala, Isabel López-Azpiazu, Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez, Carmen de la Fuente, Juan Llopis and Aurelio Barricarte (Spain) and to all the investigators who have provided unpublished data to be included in this meta-analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    A Sanchez-Villegas, E Toledo & M A Martínez-González

  2. Department of Physiology and Nutrition, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    J A Martínez

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    R Prättälä

  4. National Institute for Consumer Research, Lysaker, Norway

    G Roos

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  1. A Sanchez-Villegas
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Correspondence to M A Martínez-González.

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Sanchez-Villegas, A., Martínez, J., Prättälä, R. et al. A systematic review of socioeconomic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of cheese and milk. Eur J Clin Nutr 57, 917–929 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601626

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