Gender Differences in Adherence to Dietary Recommendations and Guidelines among Community-Dwelling Older Italian Adults †
by
, ,
Silvia Conti
1,2,*
,
Sara Bernini
2,3,
Elena Perdixi
2,4,
Nithiya Jesuthasan
1,
Alfredo Costa
3,5,
Matteo Cotta Ramusino
3,5 and
Federica Prinelli
1,2 1
Institute of Biomedical Technologies—National Research Council, 20054 Segrate, MI, Italy
2
Neuropsychology Lab/Center for Cognitive Disorders and Dementia, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, PV, Italy
3
Clinical Neuroscience Unit of Dementia, Dementia Research Center, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, PV, Italy
4
Department of Neurology, IRCCS Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 56, 20089 Rozzano, MI, Italy
5
Unit of Behavioral Neurology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, PV, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023, Belgrade, Serbia, 14–17 November 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 91(1), 413; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091413
Published: 15 March 2024
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023)
Abstract
:Background and objectives: Adhering to healthy dietary guidelines plays an essential role in maintaining population health, but data on older people exploring the gender dimension are scarce. We aimed to investigate the gender differences in adherence to dietary recommendations among an Italian population of older men and women. Methods: We included participants aged ≥ 65 years from the cross-sectional NutBrain study, recruited in 2019–2023 in northern Italy. Dietary habits were assessed using a 102- semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Adherence to recommendations was allocated for the intake of 23 food groups as described in the Italian Healthy Eating Guidelines-CREA. Variables were dichotomized as 0 = no adherence and 1 = adherence. The ‘Italian Dietary Recommendations Adherence Score (IDRAS)’ was calculated as an indicator of overall adherence to the dietary guidelines, by summing up each food group and then dividing them into tertiles. We compared the adherence to the recommendations and the IDRAS between men and women using the Chi-squared test. Results: A total of 802 participants were analysed (mean age 73.4 years ± 6.2 SD, 59.2% women, 60.3% at least high education). Consumption of legumes (67.5%), fish (51.4%), bread (66.7%), milk and yoghurt (71.8%), fruit and vegetables (63.0%), and water (56.7%) was significantly lower than recommended values in the total sample. In contrast, consumption of cheese (54.1%), animal fats (54.0%), sweets and snacks (90.9%), red (54.0%) and processed meat (84.2%), and bakery products (85.9%) exceeded the recommendations. Women were more likely than men to meet the recommendations for non-alcoholic (70.5% vs. 57.8%) and alcoholic beverages (81.1% vs. 51.4%), red (32.8% vs. 26.3%) and processed meat (18.3% vs. 12.2%), potatoes (65.3% vs. 57.8%), and sugars (70.5% vs. 62.7%) and less likely to meet the recommendations for bread (26.3% vs 42.8%) and pasta (60.2% vs 64.5%). Overall, only 19,3% had high adherence to IDRAS (highest tertile); women had higher adherence than men (22.1% vs 15.3%). Discussion: Overall adherence to recommendations was low in the total sample, with women more likely than men to adhere to recommended dietary guidelines. Identifying gender differences in dietary intake and adherence to dietary recommendations is crucial for tailoring interventions and improving population nutrition strategies.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, All authors; methodology, All authors; formal analysis, F.P.; investigation, S.C., S.B., E.P., N.J., A.C. and M.C.R.; writing—original draft preparation, S.C.; writing—review and editing, S.C., S.B., E.P., N.J., A.C., M.C.R. and F.P.; project administration, F.P.; funding acquisition, F.P. and S.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (GR -2016-02361730). The study funders had no involvement in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee Area of Pavia (protocol code 20180036036, 9 April 2018 and further amendments).
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement
Data are available under request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Conti, S.; Bernini, S.; Perdixi, E.; Jesuthasan, N.; Costa, A.; Cotta Ramusino, M.; Prinelli, F. Gender Differences in Adherence to Dietary Recommendations and Guidelines among Community-Dwelling Older Italian Adults. Proceedings 2023, 91, 413. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091413
AMA Style
Conti S, Bernini S, Perdixi E, Jesuthasan N, Costa A, Cotta Ramusino M, Prinelli F. Gender Differences in Adherence to Dietary Recommendations and Guidelines among Community-Dwelling Older Italian Adults. Proceedings. 2023; 91(1):413. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091413
Chicago/Turabian StyleConti, Silvia, Sara Bernini, Elena Perdixi, Nithiya Jesuthasan, Alfredo Costa, Matteo Cotta Ramusino, and Federica Prinelli. 2023. "Gender Differences in Adherence to Dietary Recommendations and Guidelines among Community-Dwelling Older Italian Adults" Proceedings 91, no. 1: 413. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091413
