10-YEAR TRENDS IN THE DIETARY HABITS OF DANISH MEN AND WOMEN - COHORTAND CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA

Objective: To describe 10 year trends and individual changes in food h abits of Danish men and women in relation to dietary recommendations u sing data from both a cohort and a repeated cross-sectional study, and to examine whether the two sampling methods give similar results. Des ign: Baseline data were collected in 1982-1984 and respectively repeat ed measurements for cohort and cross-sectional changes in food habits. Setting: The County of Copenhagen, Denmark. Subjects: Men and women a ged 30-70y in 1982-1984, 1986-1988 and 1992-1994. The trend analyses i ncluded 3785 subjects for cohort and 7316 for cross-sectional study, r espectively. Longitudinal changes were studied among 2430 individuals with food data from all three examinations. Methods: Food intakes were estimated using a short food frequency questionnaire. Results: During the study period both men and women reported a decreased intake frequ ency of animal and vegetable fats, milk, eggs, meat products, white br ead and potatoes, while they had increased intakes of low-fat margarin e, fruit, raw vegetables, coarse breads, oatmeal, pasta, rice, cakes a nd candy. In both men and women the decrease in the consumption freque ncy of, white bread and potatoes, and the increase in pasta, and candy , were higher in the younger than in the older age group. Tn contrast, the increased consumption frequency of coarse breads, and oatmeal wer e most pronounced in the older age groups. For most foods the cohort a nd the repeated cross-sectional surveys gave similar results. Conclusi ons: From 1982 through 1994 the food habits of middle-aged Danish men and women changed in the direction of a more healthy diet as recommend ed by health authorities. With the limitation of a possible reporting bias both the cohort and repeated cross-sectional study designs may be used for monitoring changes in food intake.