Dietary patterns and whole grain in Scandinavia. The HELGA project

• Background and objectives: In the recent years a trendwithin nutrition epidemiology has been to assess overall dietaryquality, often by identifying dietary patterns. The HELGAstudy population is based on samples of existing cohorts fromthe three Scandinavian countries. All three cohorts are part ofthe EPIC study. The aim of this study is to find a typical wholegrain pattern in Scandinavia and see if the pattern is similar inthe three countries.Methods: The associations among the variables were investigatedby factor analysis.Results: Both Norway and Sweden had two breakfast patternsand one dinner pattern. Both the countries had a healthybreakfast pattern including food items commonly consideredhealthy, such as fruit, yoghurt and breakfast cereals. However,coarse bread was the main item in a more traditional pattern for Norway, while it was a part of the healthy pattern inSweden. The second breakfast pattern in Sweden included unhealthyitems like white bread, cakes, sweets, soft drinks andalcohol. The dinner pattern was almost equal in Sweden andNorway. Denmark differed from the other Scandinavian countriesconcerning dietary patterns. Only one breakfast patternwas found. This pattern had some similarities with the traditionalNorwegian pattern, but scored high on all whole grainitems while in Norway only wheat had a high score. Two dinnerpatterns are seen for Denmark, the healthier one includesfruit and vegetables, fish and poultry, the second includes meatand meat products, ice cream and alcohol.Conclusions: When comparing dietary patterns from thethree Scandinavian countries, we find both differences andsimilarities. The main whole grain item used in Norway andSweden seems to be wheat, while rye is more dominant in Denmark.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Näringslära (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nutrition and Dietetics (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Endokrinologi och diabetes (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Endocrinology and Diabetes (hsv//eng)

Keyword

dietary pattern

whole grain

factor analysis

Scandinavia

nutrition

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

art (subject category)