RELATIONSHIP OF EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT TO NUTRITIONAL HABITS IN THE POL-MONICA WARSAW POPULATION - A 10-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY

Background and Aim: Within the frame of the Pol-Monica Project, three random samples of male and female Warsaw residents aged 35-64 were sur veyed in 1984, 1988 and 1993 (2571, 1397 and 1485 participants respect ively). Methods and Results: In groups of participants categorised acc ording to educational attainment (elementary level, secondary level an d university graduates) food consumption was assessed by means of 24-h our dietary recall. When 10-year dietary net changes in the various ed ucational categories were compared, the most beneficial tendencies in nutritional habits were found in the male and female University gradua tes: i.e. the greatest decrease in saturated fat energy (8.9% and 14.7 % respectively), a reduction in cholesterol content (34.5% and 50.5%) and the Keys score (13.1% and 20.4%). Polyunsaturated fat energy incre ased most in the secondary education group and male university graduat es (by 35.9% and 33.8% respectively) and the female university graduat es group (by 29.5%). The percentage of energy derived from total fat i ncreased in both genders and all education categories, except for fema le university graduates. Conclusions: At the start of the observation the Keys dietary lipid score wets highest in male and female universit y graduates (respectively 60.3 and 62.2), when compared with the men a nd women with elementary (58.1 and 57.1) and secondary (58.3 and 59.7) education. Thanks to greater changes in food consumption patterns in university graduate participants, no significant differences between t he educational categories were observed at the end of the study. The o btained results suggested that the higher educational levels in the Po lish population may be a factor which has begun to stimulate beneficia l changes in nutrition. (C) 1997, Medikal Press.