Nutrient Patterns and Their Food Sources in an International Study Setting: Report from the EPIC Study

Abstract

BackgroundCompared to food patterns, nutrient patterns have been rarely used particularly at international level. We studied, in the context of a multi-center study with heterogeneous data, the methodological challenges regarding pattern analyses.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe identified nutrient patterns from food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study and used 24-hour dietary recall (24-HDR) data to validate and describe the nutrient patterns and their related food sources. Associations between lifestyle factors and the nutrient patterns were also examined. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on 23 nutrients derived from country-specific FFQ combining data from all EPIC centers (N = 477,312). Harmonized 24-HDRs available for a representative sample of the EPIC populations (N = 34,436) provided accurate mean group estimates of nutrients and foods by quintiles of pattern scores, presented graphically. An overall PCA combining all data captured a good proportion of the variance explained in each EPIC center. Four nutrient patterns were identified explaining 67% of the total variance: Principle component (PC) 1 was characterized by a high contribution of nutrients from plant food sources and a low contribution of nutrients from animal food sources; PC2 by a high contribution of micro-nutrients and proteins; PC3 was characterized by polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D; PC4 was characterized by calcium, proteins, riboflavin, and phosphorus. The nutrients with high loadings on a particular pattern as derived from country-specific FFQ also showed high deviations in their mean EPIC intakes by quintiles of pattern scores when estimated from 24-HDR. Center and energy intake explained most of the variability in pattern scores.Conclusion/SignificanceThe use of 24-HDR enabled internal validation and facilitated the interpretation of the nutrient patterns derived from FFQs in term of food sources. These outcomes open research opportunities and perspectives of using nutrient patterns in future studies particularly at international level.

Main nutrient patterns are associated with prospective weight change in adults from 10 European countries

“…We used the same set of already-available nutrient patterns in the EPIC study as identified, validated, and interpreted previously [15]. Briefly, main nutrient patterns were derived with PCA on the covariance matrix of individual intakes of all the 23 nutrients available in the EPIC Nutrient Database [23].…”

“…Nutrient intake data, as estimated from dietary questionnaires, from all EPIC centers (i.e., EPIC-wide analysis) and both sexes were combined. This approach captured a good proportion of the variance explained in each EPIC center and lead to very similar patterns in men and women when PCA was conducted by sex [15]. Independence of scale of the variances and co-variances was achieved by taking the natural log of the input variables.…”

“…Nutrient densities-calculated as nutrient intake (amount/ day) divided by alcohol-free energy (kcal/day)-were used as input variables in order to capture variability of nutrient intakes independently from variation in energy intake. We retained the first four principal components (PC) or "patterns" taking into account the interpretability of the patterns, the percentage of total variance explained, and the scree-plot of eigenvalues against the number of PC [15]. The loading coefficients, which are comparable to correlation coefficients between the nutrient pattern scores and the individual nutrients, of the four retained patterns are shown in Table 1.…”

“…In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, a large prospective cohort study across 23 centers in 10 European countries, four main nutrient patterns were identified previously using principal component analysis (PCA) on the basis of dietary questionnaire data [15]. These four nutrient patterns, capturing 67 % of individual variation in nutrient intake, were successfully validated relative to standardized 24-h dietary recalls [15].…”

“…These four nutrient patterns, capturing 67 % of individual variation in nutrient intake, were successfully validated relative to standardized 24-h dietary recalls [15].…”