Food and nutritional profile of high energy density consumers in an adult Mediterranean population

Abstract

Objective: To test if an adult Mediterranean population consumes different food volumes while spontaneously ingesting diets of different energy density and to estimate which are the food and nutritional pro®les of these diets. Design: A cross-sectional study of food consumption. Setting: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus. Subjects: Five hundred and seventy two adult individuals (25 ± 65 y) randomly selected from the population census of Reus. Intervention: 24 hour recall method for 3 non-consecutive days including one holiday. The population was classi®ed into three groups of differing energy densities by simple linear regression analysis. Means were compared by ANOVA. Results: Both sexes consume similar food volumes across the different levels of energy density. High energy density consumers ingest signi®cantly more red meat, olive oil, sweet cereals, cereals and sugars and less reduced fat milk, green vegetables and fruit compared to low energy density consumers. Male and female high energy density consumers show a signi®cantly higher consumption of energy (1686 kJ and 2200 kJ, respectively) (P`0.001), a 5.2% (P`0.001) and 2.3% (P`0.05) respectively higher energy intake derived from fat and a 1.3% (P`0.05) and 1.3% (P`0.05) respectively higher energy intake derived from saturated fatty acids compared to low energy density consumers. Conclusions: Our adult Mediterranean population normally consumes similar food volumes, independently of the energy density ingested. High energy dense diets in our population could represent an important health risk because they are excessively rich in energy, fats and saturated fatty acids. Sponsorship: City Council of Reus.

Energy density and 6-year anthropometric changes in a middle-aged adult cohort

“…Some of them found a positive relationship between ED and weight (10,14,15,19) , whereas some others found no significant association (13,20) or only in men (16) . Among the few longitudinal analysis available in free-living subjects, two were performed in women only (21,22) and one in both sexes (23) .…”

“…Some studies have reported positive associations between ED and EI (4,10,11) . In addition, there is a strong correlation between the ED of foods and their fat content (4,12) , which may also encourage weight gain.However, the results from cross-sectional epidemiological studies that have examined the relationships between dietary ED and body-weight status are not consistent (10,13 -20) .Some of them found a positive relationship between ED and weight (10,14,15,19) , whereas some others found no significant association (13,20) or only in men (16) . Among the few longitudinal analysis available in free-living subjects, two were performed in women only (21,22) and one in both sexes (23) .…”

Diet quality and lifestyle associated with free selected low-energy density diets in a representative Spanish population

“…Observational studies generally found a direct association between energy intake and energy density (Marti-Henneberg et al, 1999;Cox and Mela, 2000;Stubbs et al, 2000;Stookey, 2001;Darmon et al, 2004). All these studies mainly focused on the association between energy density with energy and macronutrient intake and in some cases, additionally, with body mass index (BMI) (Marti-Henneberg et al, 1999;Cox and Mela, 2000;Stubbs et al, 2000;Cuco et al, 2001;Stookey, 2001;Darmon et al, 2004;Ledikwe et al, 2006b). Recently published data from two large-scale epidemiological studies indicate that high-energy density diets were a risk factor for higher BMI (Kant and Graubard, 2005;Howarth et al, 2006;Ledikwe et al, 2006a;Mendoza et al, 2007).…”

“…Because ingestion of most nutrients increases with increasing energy consumption, and energy density increases with energy intake, low-energy density diets, theoretically, are more prone to nutrient inadequacy than are high-energy density diets. On the other hand, evidence indicates the high diet quality of low-energy density diets (Cuco et al, 2001;Kant and Graubard, 2005;Ledikwe et al, 2006b). More studies addressing the question of energy density and diet quality are needed at population scale.…”

Dietary energy density increases during early childhood irrespective of familial predisposition to obesity: results from a prospective cohort study

“…Most research on the effects of ED on intake was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions; relatively few studies characterized the ED of the self-selected diets of adults [12][13][14][15]17 or children 14,16 consuming meals ad libitum in the free-living environment. Two prior crosssectional studies characterized changes in self-selected dietary ED across the lifespan.…”