Diet and food consumption

Diet and food consumption

LASA filenames:
LASA118
LASA184

Contact: Marjolein Visser

Background
A higher intake of fruit, vegetables and fish has shown to have beneficial health effects, and it is inversely associated with diet related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (1, 2), obesity (3), diabetes mellitus type II (4), and certain cancers (5), and positively associated with lower mortality risk (1, 6, 7). It is important to have data on (trends in) diet and food consumption in order to gain knowledge regarding dietary habits between and across generation, as well as to investigate which factors are associated to an (un)healthy diet or how diet is related to other diseases, such as depression.

Regular LASA cycles first cohort
In several LASA cycles, qualitative information on diets, use of milk products, fruits and vegetables was obtained. In addition, the number of eating moments during the day was assessed. This information was only obtained for the first LASA cohort that started in 1992/1993.

Lifestyle study
In addition to the regular questions regarding diet, in 2007 a side study on lifestyle was conducted among 1421 persons meeting the following eligibility criteria: participation in 2005/2006 LASA cycle, alive on January 15, 2007, age <80 years, and cognitively well-functioning (Mini Mental State Examination score >23). Complete lifestyle data (i.e. diet, physical activity, smoking behavior and alcohol intake, weight, oral health) were obtained from 1058 persons (response rate 74.5 %; n=326 no response, n=18 refused, n=8 not able due to physical problems, n=11 deceased). Of these 1058 persons, 516 indicated to be willing to participate in an additional nutrition sub-study of which 210 were randomly selected to be interviewed (24-hour recalls). A complete description of the lifestyle study can be found here.

Nutrition and Food-related Behaviour Study
The Nutrition and Food-related Behaviour Study is another side study which extensively investigate nutritional intake among 1439 participants (see: The Nutrition and Food-related Behaviour Study). The Nutrition and Food-related Behaviour Study has collected quantitative data on respondents’ complete nutritional intake as well as food-related behaviour. This extensive study was conducted between the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015 as part of the European Union project called MooDFOOD: a Multi-country cOllaborative project on the rOle of Diet, FOod-related behaviour, and Obesity in the prevention of Depression (http://www.moodfood-vu.eu/). For a complete overview of study protocol, selection criteria etc., please click here.

Variables in regular LASA cycles original cohort
The information obtained during the medical interview and/or the self-administered questionnaire of the regular LASA cycles is shown in table 1. Quantitative information on dietary intake was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire.

Variables Lifestyle Study
For a complete overview of data collected, please click here.

Variables Nutrition and Food-related Behaviour Study
For a complete overview of data collected, please click here.

Questionnaires
LASAB118 / LASAC118 / LASD118 / LASAH118 / LASAI118 / LASAJ118 / LASAK118
(self-administered questionnaire, in Dutch);
LASAC184 / LASAD184 (medical interview, in Dutch)

Variable information
LASAB118 / LASAC118 / LASD118 / LASAH118 / LASAI118 / LASAJ118 / LASAK118
(pdf);
LASAC184 / LASAD184
(pdf)

Availability of information per wave ¹

¹ More information about the LASA data collection waves is available here.

* 2B=baseline second cohort;
3B=baseline third cohort;
MB=migrants: baseline first cohort

Me=data collected in medical interview
Sa=data collected in self-administered questionnaire

Previous use in LASA
Information regarding problems chewing was incorporated in the paper by Schilp et al. (8) as a potential determinant of incident undernutrition in older persons. An example of using the dairy consumption data can be found in the paper by Van Schoor et al. (9).

References

1. Mozaffarian D, Wu JH. Omega-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease: effects on risk factors, molecular pathways, and clinical events. J Am Coll Cardiol 2011;58(20):2047-67.
2. He FJ, Nowson CA, Lucas M, MacGregor GA. Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables is related to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease: meta-analysis of cohort studies. J Hum Hypertens 2007;21(9):717-28.
3. Alinia S, Hels O, Tetens I. The potential association between fruit intake and body weight–a review. Obes Rev 2009;10(6):639-47.
4. Carter P, Gray LJ, Troughton J, Khunti K, Davies MJ. Fruit and vegetable intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2010;341:c4229.
5. Soerjomataram I, Oomen D, Lemmens V, Oenema A, Benetou V, Trichopoulou A, Coebergh JW, Barendregt J, de Vries E. Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables and future cancer incidence in selected European countries. Eur J Cancer 2010;46(14):2563-80.
6. Anderson AL, Harris TB, Tylavsky FA, Perry SE, Houston DK, Hue TF, Strotmeyer ES, Sahyoun NR, Health ABCS. Dietary patterns and survival of older adults. J Am Diet Assoc 2011;111(1):84-91.
7. Zheng J, Huang T, Yu Y, Hu X, Yang B, Li D. Fish consumption and CHD mortality: an updated meta-analysis of seventeen cohort studies. Public Health Nutr 2012;15(4):725-37.
8. Schilp J, Wijnhoven HA, Deeg DJ, Visser M. Early determinants for the development of undernutrition in an older general population: Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Br J Nutr 2011;106(5):708-17.
9. van Schoor NM, Visser M, Pluijm SM, Kuchuk N, Smit JH, Lips P. Vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for osteoporotic fractures. Bone 2008;42(2):260-6.
10. Elstgeest, E.M., Winkens, L.H.H., Penninx, B.W.J.H., Brouwer, I.A., Visser, M. (2019) Associations of depressive symptoms and history with three a priori diet quality indices in middle-aged and older adults. Journal of affective Disorders, 249, 394-403.

Date of last update: April 24, 2020 (LenaS)