Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Food and nutrient consumption trends in older Australians: a 10-year cohort study

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Few longitudinal population-based cohort studies of older people have described dietary intakes over time. The objective of this study was to assess changes in the food and nutrient intake in a cohort of older Australians, using longitudinal data collected over 10 years.

Subjects/Methods:

Population-based cohort of people aged 49 years and over at baseline (82% of those eligible) living in two postcode areas, west of Sydney. In 1992–1994, 3654 people were examined; 2334 were reexamined after 5 years and 1952 after 10 years (75% survivors at both examinations). A 145-item food frequency questionnaire was used to assess food and nutrient intake on each occasion, and 1166 participants provided usable dietary data at all three examinations.

Results:

Energy and sugar intake significantly increased among women over the 10-year period (P-value for trend <0.0001). Long-chain omega-3 fatty acid and fish intake significantly increased in both men and women (P-value for trend <0.0001). Folate intake significantly increased in both men and women (women: 325 dietary folate equivalents (DFE) vs 403 DFE; men: 346 DFE vs 425 DFE, P<0.0001). Wholemeal/grain bread consumption decreased in both men and women (P-value for trend <0.0001).

Conclusions:

Many of the observed changes in diet over the 10-year period were consistent with current population dietary recommendations. Some changes, however, appear to have been due to poorer dietary choices. This information could be used to inform nutrition policy and programs targeted to older persons. These data highlight the need to identify barriers to better food choices.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abraham B, Webb K (2001). Interim Evaluation of the Voluntary Folate Fortification Policy. Australian Food and Nutrition Monitoring Unit, AusInfo: Canberra, ACT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics Department of Health Aged Care Services (1998). National Nutrition Survey, 1995 Nutrient Intakes and Physical Measurements. (4805.0). Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

  • Barr ELM, Magliano DJ, Zimmet PZ, Polkinghome KR, Atkins RC, Dunstan D W et al. (2006). AusDiab 2005; The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study—Tracking the Accelerating Epidemic: Its Causes and Outcomes. International Diabetes Institute: Melbourne, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook T, Rutishauser I, Seeling M (2001). Comparable Data on Food and Nutrient Intake and Physical Measurements from the 1983, 1995 and 1995: National Nutrition Surveys. AusInfo: Canberra, ACT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chua B, Flood V, Rochtchina E, Wang JJ, Smith W, Mitchell P (2006). Dietary fatty acids and the 5-year incidence of age related maculopathy. Arch Ophthalmol 124, 981–986.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colditz GA, Willett WC, Rotnitzky A, Manson JE (1995). Weight gain as a risk factor for clinical diabetes mellitus in women. Ann Intern Med 122, 481–486.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colquhoun D, Ferreira-Jardim A, Udell T, Eden B (2008). Review of Evidence: Fish, Fish Oils and n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Health. Heart Foundation of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Community Services Health (1990). NUTTAB90 Nutrient Data Table for Use in Australia. Government Publishing Service: Canberra, Australia.

  • Department of Community Services Health (1995). NUTTAB95 Nutrient Data Table for Use in Australia. Government Publishing Service: Canberra, Australia.

  • Flood VM, Webb KL, Smith W, Mitchell P, Bantick JM, Macintyre R et al. (2001). Folate fortification: potential impact on folate intake in an older population. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 793–800.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Flood VM, Smith WT, Webb KL, Mitchell P (2004). Issues in assessing the validity of nutrient data obtained from a food-frequency questionnaire: folate and vitamin B12 examples. Public Health Nutr 7, 751–756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood VM, Webb KL, Rochtchina E, Kelly B, Mitchell P (2007). Fatty acid intakes and food sources in a population of older Australians. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 16, 322–330.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hallfrisch J, Muller D, Drinkwater D, Tobin J, Andres R (1990). Continuing diet trends in men: the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (1961–1987). J Gerontol 45, M186–M191.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hickling S, Hung J, Knuiman M, Jamrozik K, McQuillan B, Beilby J et al. (2005). Impact of voluntary folate fortification on plasma homocysteine and serum folate in Australia from 1995 to 2001: a population based cohort study. J Epidemiol Community Health 59, 371–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge AM, English DR, O’Dea K, Giles GG (2007). Dietary patterns and diabetes incidence in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Am J Epidemiol 165, 603–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honkanen L (2000). Interpretation of body mass index. J Am Geriatr Soc 48, 1172.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm E, Ascherio A, Rosner BA, Spiegelman D et al. (1999). Dietary fat and coronary heart disease: a comparison of approaches for adjusting for total energy intake and modeling repeated dietary measurements. Am J Epidemiol 149, 531–540.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joshipura KJ, Hung H-C, Li TY, Hu FB, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ et al. (2008). Intakes of fruits, vegetables and carbohydrate and risk of CVD. Public Health Nutr 12, 115–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaushik S, Wang JJ, Flood V, Liew G, Smith W, Mitchell P (2007). Frequency of fish consumption, retinal microvascular signs and vascular mortality. Microcirculation 1–10.

  • Mann NJ, Sinclair AJ, Percival P, Lewis JL, Meyer BJ, Howe PRC (2003). Development of a database of fatty acids in Australian foods. Nutr Diet 60, 42–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Health Medical Research Council (1999). Dietary Guidelines for Older Australians. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

  • National Health Medical Research Council (2003). Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

  • National Health Medical Research Council, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Australia and Ministry of Health, New Zealand (2005). Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand, including Recommended Dietary Intakes. Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand Government: Canberra.

  • National Heart Foundation of Australia (1999). A review of the relationship between dietary fat and cardiovascular disease. Aust J Nutr Diet 56, S5–S22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen SJ, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM (2002). Trends in energy intake in US between 1977 and 1996: similar shifts seen across age groups. Obes Res 10, 370–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osler M, Heitmann BL, Schroll M (1997). Ten year trends in the dietary habits of Danish men and women cohort and cross-sectional data. Eur J Clin Nutr 51, 535–541.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prynne CJ, Paul AA, Mishra GD, Greenberg DC, Wadsworth MEJ (2005). Changes in intake of key nutrients over 17 years during adult life of a British birth cohort. Br J Nutr 94, 368–376.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci E (1995). Body size and fat distribution as predictors of coronary heart disease among middle-aged and older US men. Am J Epidemiol 141, 1117–1127.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Royal Society of Chemistry. (1991). McCance and Widdowson's UK Composition of Foods. Royal Society of Chemistry and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: UK.

  • Sahyoun NR, Lin CL, Krall E (2003). Nutritional status of the older adult is associated with dentition status. J Am Diet Assoc 103, 61–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith A, Kellet E, Schmerlaib Y (1998a). The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith W, Mitchell P, Reay EM, Webb K, Harvey PW (1998b). Validity and reproducibility of a self- administered food frequency questionnaire in older people. Aust N Z J Public Health 22, 456–463.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Health & Human Services. US Department of Agriculture (2005). Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC.

  • Webb KL, Schofield WN, Lazarus R, Smith W, Mitchell P, Leeder SR (1999). Prevalence and socio-demographic predictors of dietary goal attainment in an older population. Aust N Z J Public Health 23, 578–584.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Willett W, Sampson L, Browne M, Stampfer M, Rosner B, Hennekins C, et al (1988). The use of a self-administered questionnaire to assess diet four years in the past. Am J of Epidemiol 127, 188–199.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Willett WC, Dietz WH, Colditz GA (1999). Guidelines for healthy weight. N Engl J Med 1999, 427–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willett WC, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Rosner B, Speizer FE et al. (1995). Weight, weight change, and coronary heart disease in women: risk within the ‘normal’ weight range. JAMA 273, 461–465.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Jennifer Peat for early guidance about approaches to statistical analyses. This study was supported by the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council, Canberra Australia (Grant nos. 974159, 211069) and Meat and Livestock Australia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P Mitchell.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Contributors: PM, JJW, WTS, VMF: study conception and design; VMF: data acquisition; GB: statistical analyses; VMF, KLW: interpretation of study findings; VMF: first draft of the paper. All authors critically reviewed and contributed to the final version of the paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Flood, V., Burlutsky, G., Webb, K. et al. Food and nutrient consumption trends in older Australians: a 10-year cohort study. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 603–613 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.34

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.34

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links