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Effect of Age and Ethnic Groups on Diet Quality
Author(s) -
Love Ashley S,
Mobley Connie,
Owen Steven V,
Hazuda Helen P
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.6.a1047-d
Subject(s) - ethnic group , vitamin d and neurology , medicine , nutrient , demography , gerontology , vitamin , multivariate analysis of variance , physiology , biology , ecology , machine learning , sociology , anthropology , computer science
The role of age and ethnic groups (Mexican‐American MA versus European‐American EA) on diet quality was examined. Stratified sampling (ethnicity, sex, age, neighborhood, and disease status) was used to collect data from 1,319 subjects living in central Texas using 2 24‐hour recalls (58.8% MAs, 42.7% males). MANOVA was performed to determine if panel of nutrients were affected by age and ethnicity, controlling for sex, education level, BMI, and number of exercise days. Age and ethnicity had appreciable and significant effects on the panel of nutrients. Age explained 9.3% and ethnicity explained 3.9% of the total variance across nutrients. Regardless of ethnicity, % vitamin D intake (p<.0001) and % calcium intake (p<.0001) decreased as age increased. Older subjects (51 and older) were only meeting 24% or less of RDA for vitamin D and only 50% of RDA for calcium. MAs consumed more proteins (p<.0001) and less carbohydrates (p<.0001) than EAs. Our study showed that our older subjects were significantly deficient in vitamin D and calcium. Although ethnicity did explain some differences in nutrient intakes in our subjects, our study underscores the importance of nutrition education for community dwelling elders to eat healthier and improve the quality of their diets.