Karjala Anni, Salmela Jatta, Mauramo Elina, Salonsalmi Aino, Rahkonen Ossi, Lallukka Tea
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20, (Tukholmankatu 8 2B), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20, (Tukholmankatu 8 2B), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
J Nutr Health Aging. 2025 Jan;29(1):100425. doi: 10.1016/j.jnha.2024.100425. Epub 2024 Dec 5.
Socioeconomic differences in fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption are recognized, but little is known about how these differences develop when moving from mid-life to older adulthood. We investigated the longitudinal changes in socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption in an ageing Finnish cohort, using occupational class as a measure of socioeconomic position. Additionally, we examined whether socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption changed over retirement transition.
An observational longitudinal cohort study with a 15-17-year follow-up.
The survey data used in this study were collected in four phases: 2000-02, 2007, 2012 and 2017. We included 2719 women who were 40-60-year-old in Phase 1. All participants transitioned to statutory retirement during the follow-up.
F&V consumption was measured in each phase as a part of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and determined by the number of F&V consumption times per 4 weeks. We used linear mixed modeling for the analyses, and used age, marital status, education, income and BMI as covariates.
We found marked differences between occupational classes in F&V consumption. Semi-professionals used F&V most often and manual workers least often. In Phase 1, semi-professionals had 14.5 consumption times more per 4 weeks than manual workers, which is equivalent to ca. 0.5 daily consumption times. Differences between occupational classes showed a transient decrease in the beginning of the follow-up, followed by an increasing trend towards the last study phase. However, these changes were modest and overall differences between occupational classes changed only little over the follow-up period. Retirement did not markedly contribute to occupational class differences in F&V consumption.
Our findings suggest that the socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption seen in mid-life persist in older adulthood and over retirement transition. The results imply that means to reduce socioeconomic differences in F&V use should be actively sought to support healthy ageing and reduce socioeconomic health differences in ageing populations. Workplace could be a fruitful ground for targeting these interventions.
水果和蔬菜（F&V）消费方面的社会经济差异已得到公认，但对于从中年到老年这些差异如何发展却知之甚少。我们以职业阶层作为社会经济地位的衡量指标，调查了芬兰一个老龄化队列中F&V消费的社会经济差异的纵向变化。此外，我们还研究了退休过渡期间F&V消费的社会经济差异是否发生变化。
一项随访15 - 17年的观察性纵向队列研究。
本研究使用的调查数据分四个阶段收集：2000 - 2002年、2007年、2012年和2017年。我们纳入了第一阶段年龄在40 - 60岁的2719名女性。所有参与者在随访期间都过渡到了法定退休年龄。
在每个阶段，F&V消费作为食物频率问卷（FFQ）的一部分进行测量，并通过每4周F&V的消费次数来确定。我们使用线性混合模型进行分析，并将年龄、婚姻状况、教育程度、收入和体重指数作为协变量。
我们发现不同职业阶层在F&V消费方面存在显著差异。半专业人员F&V消费最为频繁，体力劳动者消费最少。在第一阶段，半专业人员每4周的消费次数比体力劳动者多14.5次，相当于每天约0.5次消费次数。职业阶层之间的差异在随访开始时出现短暂下降，随后在最后一个研究阶段呈上升趋势。然而，这些变化不大，职业阶层之间的总体差异在随访期间变化很小。退休对F&V消费的职业阶层差异没有显著影响。
我们的研究结果表明，中年时F&V消费方面的社会经济差异在老年期和退休过渡期间持续存在。结果意味着应积极寻求减少F&V消费方面社会经济差异的方法，以支持健康老龄化并减少老年人群体中的社会经济健康差异。工作场所可能是实施这些干预措施的有效场所。
