DIETARY STUDIES ON 2 RURAL ITALIAN POPULATION GROUPS OF THE 7 COUNTRIES STUDY .2. CONCURRENT VALIDATION OF PROTEIN, FAT AND CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE

On 18 subjects from two rural areas in Italy which were part of the Se ven Countries Study (Crevalcore and Montegiorgio), we carried out the concurrent validation of protein, fat, fatty acid and carbohydrate int ake in the diet at the thirty-first year follow-up in 1991. The values of the above nutrients obtained using food composition tables from th e weighed record method for dietary surveys were compared with the val ues from chemical analysis of food composites. In both areas for prote in, fat and carbohydrate intake the inter-individual variation was lar ge. For protein intake the mean difference was statistically significa nt but not for fat intake. From 1960 to 1991 protein and fat intake te nded to decrease and for protein the means of differences between anal ysis and calculation were, in general, statistically different. For di etary saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, the means of differen ces were statistically significant in Crevalcore, but this was not the case in Montegiorgio for polyunsaturated fatty acids. The intake of t rans fatty acids in both areas was rather low. Available and unavailab le carbohydrate intake of both areas showed no statistically significa nt difference. The mean differences between analysis and calculation f or both areas were statistically significant with the exception of cel lulose in Crevalcore and sugars in Montegiorgio.