DEFINITION OF HEALTHY EATING IN THE SPANISH ADULT-POPULATION - A NATIONAL SAMPLE IN A PAN-EUROPEAN SURVEY

A national survey was carried out to find out how the Spanish adult po pulation defined 'healthy eating'. Consumers were asked to describe in their own words what 'healthy eating' means to them. The sample inclu ded 1009 Spanish subjects over 15 y of age selected by a multietapic p rocedure. This study belongs to the Spanish partnership in a pan-Europ ean survey about attitudes to food, nutrition and health coordinated b y the Institute of European Food Studies of Dublin. The results were s hown as the percentages of the sample who gave one of the five most fr equently mentioned descriptions ('more vegetables', 'balanced diet', ' more fruit', 'less fat' and 'more fish') and the distribution of respo nses by age, sex, region, socio-economic level and education level. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to assess the chara cteristics independently related to the use of the definition 'balance and variety' for healthy eating. The majority of the Spanish people d efined 'healthy eating' as a diet with 'more vegetables' as the main d escription. Other descriptions commonly mentioned were 'less fat 'more fruit','more fish', and 'more lean meat'. A higher age was associated with a lower likelihood of mentioning the concept of balanced diet. A higher educational level was also independently and strongly related to a higher prevalence of this definition. Differences between men and women showed only borderline significance. Our results suggest the ne ed to improve nutritional education about fiber, low fat and cholester ol. It would be interesting to develop strategies in Spain to educate people on a definition of 'healthy eating' based upon 'balance and var iety'.