Low-Fat Diet Practices of Older Women: Prevalence and Implications for Dietary Assessment

• Published in: Journal of the American Dietetic Association Vol. 96; no. 7; pp. 670,679 - 676,679
• Main Authors: PATTERSON, RUTH E, KRISTAL, ALAN R, COATES, RALPH J, TYLAVSKY, FRANCES A, RITENBAUGH, CHERYL, HORN, LINDA VAN, CAGGIULA, ARLENE W, SNETSELAAR, LINDA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-07-1996; Elsevier; Elsevier Science Publishers; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: African Americans; Aged; Aged women; Biological and medical sciences; CORPS GRAS; Diet; Diet, Fat-Restricted - statistics & numerical data; DIETA; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; DIETAS RESTRICTAS EN GRASAS; ENCUESTAS; Energy Intake; ENQUETE; European Continental Ancestry Group; EVALUACION; EVALUATION; Female; FEMME; Food and nutrition; GRASAS; Health aspects; Hispanic Americans; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; INGESTION DE NUTRIENTES; INGESTION DE SUBSTANCES NUTRITIVES; Low-fat diet; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; MUJERES; NUTRICION HUMANA; Nutrition Assessment; NUTRITION HUMAINE; Nutritional survey. Food supply and nutritional requirement; PERSONNE AGEE; Prevalence; REGIME ALIMENTAIRE; REGIME ALLEGE EN GRAISSE; Social Class; Surveys and Questionnaires; TERCERA EDAD; United States - epidemiology; United States; Human; Prevalence; Questionnaire; Female; Lipids; Restricted diet; Elderly; Feeding
• ISSN: 0002-8223; 2212-2672; 1878-3570; 2212-2680
• DOI: 10.1016/S0002-8223(96)00186-1

Objective To evaluate the importance of information on low-fat diet practices and consumption of reduced-fat foods for accurate assessment of energy and fat intakes using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
Subjects Subjects were 7,419 women, aged 50 to 79 years, who filled out an FFQ as part of eligibility screening for a diet modification component and/or a hormone replacement trial in a multicenter study of chronic disease prevention in postmenopausal women (Women's Health Initiative).
Statistical analysis For 26 FFQ questions, we receded the low-fat diet choices of participants to a high-fat counterpart and recalculated energy and fat intakes. We then determined the decrease in energy and nutrient estimates attributable to adding low-fat options to the FFQ.
Results Low-fat diet practices were widespread in this population. For example, 69% of respondents rarely or never ate skin on chicken, 76% rarely or never ate fat on meat, 36% usually drank nonfat milk, 52% usually ate low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise, 59% ate low-fat chips/snacks, and 42% ate nonfat cheese. These low-fat choices had substantial effects on energy and nutrient estimates. Absolute decreases (and mean percentage decreases) for energy and nutrient measures attributable to adding low-fat diet options to the FFQ were 196 kcal (11.4%) energy, 9 percentage points in percentage energy from fat (22.3%), 23.2
g fat (29.0%), and 9.6
g saturated fat (32.5%). Black and Hispanic women and women of lower socioeconomic status reported significantly fewer low-fat diet practices than white women and women of higher socioeconomic status.
Conclusion Failure to collect information on low-fat diet practices with an FFQ will result in an upward bias in estimates of energy and fat intake, and the amount of error will vary by the personal characteristics of respondents.
J Am DietAssoc. 1996; 96:670-676, 679.