Dietary and nutritional patterns in an elderly rural population in Northern and Southern Italy: (II). Nutritional profiles associated with food behaviours

Abstract

Objective: To describe the nutritional profiles of the food consumption patterns identified in an elderly Italian rural population. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Population-based study. Subjects: A total of 847 men and 1465 women aged 65 y or older, resident in rural areas in the province of Pavia (Northern Italy) and near Cosenza (Southern Italy) in 1992-1993. Interventions: A cluster analysis segregated the subjects into six groups for men and seven for women on the basis of similarities in their food intake (see companion paper). The mean daily energy, macronutrient, mineral and vitamin intakes were calculated for the sample as a whole and for each cluster, and then compared with the age-and gender-specific recommended daily allowances for the Italian population. Results: The largest cluster ('small eaters', which included about half of the population) had an insufficient intake of essential fatty acids, calcium, potassium, zinc (men), iron (women), thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, b-carotene, and vitamins A, D and E. The most noticeable characteristics of some of the other clusters were a high intake of fats, a high proportion of total energy provided by sugars, a high intake of vitamin C, folic acid and b-carotene, and a high alcohol consumption. Furthermore, sodium intake was too high in all of the clusters and vitamin D intake was generally inadequate. Conclusions: The dietary habits of elderly Italians living in rural areas combine elements of the Mediterranean and 'wealthy' diets.

Ten-year trends in dietary intake, health status and mortality rates in free-living elderly people

“…Over a decade, our old-old responders had increased their consumption of confectionary from 20 to 60 g/day: similar data were reported in the DAFNE database (23) and in several countries participating in the EPIC-Elderly cohort study (24). The age-related increment in sugar intake is rather new in the literature; evidence of this trend emerged in other studies (25,26), but methodological differences make it impossible to draw any conclusions. An increased sugar intake might be seen as an age-related effect on dietary habits and warrants further investigation to understand whether effects other than those strictly relating to age (i.e.…”

“…A moderate alcohol intake remained a constant feature at the follow-up and was common among the elderly in our sample: a remarkable number of our old-old and very old men exceeded the threshold of 20 g/day currently considered the mean alcohol intake that does not increase the risk of disease by comparison with non-drinkers. Although only 10% of men routinely drank more than 70g of alcohol (three times the cut-off), these findings highlight the alcohol abuse issue in elderly Italians, which deserves more attention (26).…”

Macronutrient Intake and Inadequacies of Community-Dwelling Older Adults, a Systematic Review

“…tables S3 and S4 with dietary intake data per study). Two studies [36,37] were excluded from the EAR cut point calculation as the SDs or SEMs were not available in the published data.…”

Spontaneous neurocognitive retrieval of patients with sub-acute ischemic stroke is associated with dietary protein intake

“…For example, relevant to the present investigation is the finding of reduced dietary zinc in a large population of healthy elderly subjects in our country (Italy). 36,37 Further studies are needed to investigate the relevance of the aforementioned factors on patient quality of rehabilitation. On the other hand, this study focused on ascertaining whether patient protein intake could be associated or not with spontaneous recovery of neurocognitive alterations.…”