Dietary studies on two rural Italian population groups of the Seven Countries Study. 3. Trend of food and nutrient intake from 1960 to 1991

Objective: To examine the trend of food and nutrient intake from 1960 to 19 91 of the subjects of two rural Italian cohorts of the Seven Countries Stud y. Design: Longitudinal study of dietary patterns from 1960 to 1991. Setting: Two rural Italian cohorts of Seven Countries Study: Crevalcore in the North near Bologna and Montegiorgio in the Centre near Ancona. Subjects: Men aged 40-59y in 1960 examined every 5 or 10y until 1991. Methods: Food intake was assessed by the dietary history method on all avai lable subjects and by the weighed record method in a statistically selected subsample. Results: A marked decrease of energy intake was observed, due not only to t he aging process. but also to a remarkable reduction of working activities and life habits. The trend of food group intake as percentage of energy sho ws an increase for milk, cheese, meat, vegetables, fruit, sweet beverages a nd cakes, pies and cookies and a decrease for bread and alcoholic beverages , which were mom marked in Montegiorgio. The evaluation of the above changes by a Mediterranean,Adequacy Index provi ded the following values: in Crevalcore in 1965 2.9 and in 1991 2.2: in Mon tegiorgio the corresponding values are 5.6 and 3.9. The Mediterranean Adequ acy Index of diet of men from Nicotera (the third rural cohort examined onl y in 1960), considered the Reference Italian-Mediterranean Diet. is 7.5. Accordingly, in both cohorts dietary habits, different at baseline and rath er far from the Reference Italian-Mediterranean type (especially in Crevalc ore) became worse with time, particularly in Montegiorgio. Conclusions: The changes observed in 31 y in the diet of mon from Crevalcor e and Montegiorgio suggest the necessity in the longitudinal nutritional ep idemiology studies particularly in rapidly changing societies to assess the trend of food intakes and the factors related to it. This is in view of th e promotion of nutrition intervention programs. Sponsorship: Italian Ministry of Health US Public Health Service from the N ational Heart Institute, Italian National Research Council. Descriptors: Mediterranean diet; dietary intakes; nutritional epidemiology; ecological studies; Mediterranean Adequacy Index; Seven Countries Study; r ural subjects.