HOW COULD THE BSE CRISIS AFFECT NUTRIENT INTAKE - COMPARISON OF BEEF AND NON-BEEF EATING MEAT EATERS FROM THE UK-WOMENS-COHORT-STUDY

Objectives: To compare nutrient and food intakes in a group of meat ea ting women who ate beef with those who did not eat beef. Design: Analy sis of preliminary data from the UK Women's Cohort Study, a national s tudy of women aged 35-69 y. Subjects: Three thousand and eighty-six be ef meat eaters from the cohort were compared with 593 non-beef meat ea ters. Results: The non-beef eaters had lower energy, protein, zinc, fa t, percentage of energy from fat and body mass index and higher fibre and vitamin C intakes than the beef eaters. There was no difference be tween the groups in consumption of carbohydrate, sugar or iron. Conclu sion: There were differences in nutrient intake between the groups, wh ich if reflected long term in the general population have implications for health and food policy following media revelations.