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Dairy food intake and perceptions 1995 to 2009: is it time to promote dairy food consumption?
Author(s) -
Kerr Deborah Anne,
Meng Xingqiong,
Devine Amanda,
Prince Richard L,
Pollard Christina M
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.905.7
Subject(s) - medicine , dairy foods , environmental health , logistic regression , consumption (sociology) , population , food group , food frequency questionnaire , food science , biology , social science , sociology
Background There is evidence for the health benefits of dairy food consumption throughout the lifecycle. Government dietary guidelines advise the population to eat a wide variety of nutritious foods including foods from the dairy food group, particularly lower fat versions, to promote health and protect against disease. Knowledge, attitudes and intentions are key to adherence to dietary recommendations. Objective To assess trends in self‐reported dairy food consumption and intentions regarding these foods among Western Australia adults 18 to 64 years. Methods Data were pooled from the 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2012 Health Department's Nutrition Monitoring Survey Series of 7,044 adults. Outcome measures included type and amount of dairy foods eaten on the day prior. Sociodemographic characteristics, perceptions of current dairy food intake and intentions to change were measured. Multinominal logistic regression models were used to assess the factors associated with consumption. Results Most respondents (96%) reported consuming dairy products (milk, yoghurt, and/or cheese) on the day prior to the survey. Although the proportion consuming dairy foods remained relatively stable across survey years, the amount consumed decreased from 2.7 (95% CI: 2.6, 2.9) serves/d 1995 to 2.2 (95% CI: 2.1, 2.3) serves/d in 2012. Men consumed more serves of dairy compared with women (Coef 0.38 95% CI: 0.27–0.49; p<0.001). The amount consumed decreased with age (Coef −0.57 95% CI: −0.80,−0.34; p<0.001) for 55–64 years compared to 18–24 years. Overweight or obese people consumed fewer dairy foods serves than those of a healthy body weight (Coef −0.26, 95% CI: −0.37, −0.14; p<0.001). Respondents were twice as likely to be ‘thinking about trying to change their intake’ compared to ‘actually trying to increase consumption’ in 2012 compared with 1995 (RRR 2.26, CI 1.36, 3.74; p<0.01). Men were more likely than women to have tried to decrease their dairy food intake in the past year (RRR 2.08, 95% CI: 1.35, 3.22; p<0.001). The perception that ‘I already eat enough dairy foods’ increased as a barrier to eating more, from 64.5%, 95% CI: 61.2–67.6 in 1995 to 77.1%, 95% CI: 74.3–79.6 in 2012 (p<0.001). Conclusions These findings indicate that many adults believe they already eat enough dairy foods yet their intake is less than recommended and is decreasing over time. Health promotion interventions to address the declining consumption of dairy foods as part of a healthy dietary pattern are warranted and should challenge this misconception. Support or Funding Information Healthway funded Curtin University's Food Law, Policy and Communications to Improve Public Health Project to assist the translation of research into practice