Inter-relationships of nutrient intakes for urban Chinese spouses in Taiwan

Abstract

This study was to examine dietary intakes and the inter-relationships in urban Chinese spouses in Taipei, Taiwan. We analyzed the dietary intakes and related household factors for 82 wives and their husbands by 24-h recalls and a Chinese food frequency questionnaire (CFFQ) designed with meal sequences in Taipei, Taiwan. The distributions of energy assessed from CFFQ by meals were similar for husbands and wives, with 16% for breakfast, 39% for lunch, 40% for dinner and 5% for snacks (afternoon and evening combined). Assessed by 24-h recalls, the means for total energy, the energy per kilogram body weight, and the percent energy from fat, protein, and carbohydrate were different: 2394 kcal, 34.4 kcal/kg, 31%, 15%, and 51% for husbands; and 1729 kcal, 32.0 kcal/kg, 34%, 16%, and 50% for wives, respectively. The P/M/S (polyunsaturated fat/monounsaturated fat/saturated fat) ratios were 1.5/1.2/1 for husbands and 1.3/1.2/1 for wives. A high eating-out frequency may account for the low correlations for most nutrient intakes between husbands and wives. Canonical correlation analysis for total energy, protein and carbohydrate reveals significant inter-relationships between husbands and wives. Carbohydrate is the consistent and important variable that weighted in an opposite direction with protein and energy intakes in both husbands and wives. These results support the observation that decreased rice consumption as a staple food, cooked at home, for urban Chinese couples, indicated by decreased carbohydrate intake in wives, may account for the increase of energy and protein intakes for husbands.

Dietary habits among men and women in West Greenland: follow-up on the ACCEPT birth cohort

“…Bold p-value and * indicate significant difference (p < 0.05). Spearman correlations between intake of traditional and imported food groups (time(s) per months) at inclusion and follow-up intakes [31][32][33][34][35][36][37]; however, female partners were often restricted in dinner choices by their male partners' preferences for meat, fewer vegetables, and little food variety [38]. In the present study, the mothers reported a more healthy diet with more frequent intake of fruit and vegetables and less fast food intake than the fathers.…”

Life Partner Influence on Uptake of Preventive Services: Evidence From Flu Vaccine Adoption Among the Aging Population

“…Partner interrelations and spousal concordance have been widely documented in fields other than preventive health services. Existing studies are generally categorized in three broad areas: physical health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular and other chronic diseases; Jurj et al, 2006; Stimpson & Peek, 2005), mental health status (e.g., depression, stress, cognitive ability, and quality of life; Hoppmann, Gerstorf, & Luszcz, 2008; Gerstorf, Hoppmann, Anstey, & Luszcz, 2009), as well as lifestyle health behaviors such as smoking (e.g., Derrick, Leonard, & Homish, 2013; Franks, Pienta, & Wray, 2002; Homish, Eiden, Leonard, & Kozlowski, 2012; Homish & Leonard, 2005), alcohol and drug use (e.g., Leonard & Homish, 2005; Windle & Windle, 2014), dietary intake and others (e.g., Lyu, Huang, Hsu, Lee, & Lin, 2004; Stimpson, Masel, Rudkin, & Peek, 2006). More recently, life partner influences have also been extended to fields such as breast feeding (e.g., Rempel & Rempel, 2004), heart attack survival (e.g., Dupre & Nelson, 2016), surgery recovery (e.g., Fekete, Stephens, Druley, & Greene, 2006), cancer trajectory (Li & Loke, 2014), and screening (Manne, Kashy, Weinberg, Boscarino, & Bowen, 2012).…”

A Taiwanese food frequency questionnaire correlates with plasma docosahexaenoic acid but not with plasma eicosapentaenoic acid levels: questionnaires and plasma biomarkers

“…The validity of nutrient intake using an interviewer-administered FFQ was tested among young adults in Taiwan [12], and FFQs have been shown to be feasible for association studies between dietary intake and disease risk [12,22-24]. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the validity of an interviewer-administered FFQ and biochemical indicators of plasma marine fatty acids among Taiwanese in various clinical settings.…”