Relationship between dietary habits, age, lifestyle, and socio-economic status among adult Norwegian women. The Norwegian Women and Cancer Study.

OBJECTIVE

To examine how dietary intake varies with age in a nation-wide sample of adult Norwegian women, and to evaluate the impact of lifestyle and socio-economic status on important dietary aspects.

DESIGN

Cross-section study.

SETTING AND SUBJECTS

A food frequency questionnaire was mailed to a random, nation-wide sample of 20 000 women aged 45-69y, and 9885 questionnaires were accepted for nutritional analyses.

RESULTS

Dietary habits differed moderately with age. The oldest women reported a higher consumption of potatoes and fish, whereas the youngest reported more coffee, meat, and alcohol. The reported intake of fruit, vegetables, and potatoes was lower than recommended in all age groups. Older women had a slightly better distribution of energy yielding nutrients than younger women, although the median percentage of energy from fat was too high in all age groups. The median dietary fibre density of the diet was close to the recommended level in all age groups, yet lowest among the youngest women. Practising a healthy lifestyle and having a higher socio-economic status were associated with reporting a healthier diet. However, adjusting for lifestyle and socio-economic factors did not substantially alter the associations between diet and age.

CONCLUSIONS

Older women tend to have a healthier diet than younger women. The relationship does not seem to be strongly confounded by lifestyle and socio-economic status, although these factors are also related to dietary habits.