Abstract
Background
It is hypothesized that the observed proliferation of energy-dense, nutrient-poor
foods globally is an important contributing factor to the development of the obesity
epidemic. However, evidence that the population’s dietary energy density has increased
is sparse. The World Cancer Research Fund recommends that dietary energy density be
<1.25 kcal/g to prevent weight gain.
Objective
The aim of this research was to determine whether the dietary energy density of the
Australian population has changed between 1995 and 2012.
Design
A secondary analysis of two cross-sectional Australian national nutrition surveys
from 1995 and 2011/2012 was conducted.
Participants/setting
Participants of the surveys included adults aged 18 years and older (1995 n=10,986
and 2011/2012 n=9,435) completing 24-hour dietary recalls, including a second recall
for a subset of the population (10.4% in 1995 and 64.6% in 2011/2012).
Main outcome measures
Outcome measures included the change in dietary energy density (calculated as energy/weight
of food [kcal/g] for food only) between surveys.
Statistical analysis
The National Cancer Institute method for “estimating ratios of two dietary components
that are consumed nearly every day” was used to determine the usual distribution and
the percentage of participants reporting energy density <1.25 kcal/g.
Results
The mean (standard deviation) dietary energy density was 1.59 (0.26) kcal/g and 1.64
(0.32) kcal/g (P<0.0001) in 1995 and 2011/2012, respectively, with 13% and 5% (P<0.0001) of the population meeting dietary energy-density recommendations. For those
aged 70 years and older, the percentage with energy density <1.25 kcal/g decreased
from 22% to 6% (P<0.0001) for men and from 33% to 11% (P<0.0001) for women in 1995 and 2011/2012, respectively. Among those aged 18 to 29
years, 1% of men in both surveys (P=0.8) and 4% of women in 1995 and 2% in 2011/2012 (P=0.01) reported energy density <1.25 kcal/g.
Conclusions
Dietary energy density has increased between the two surveys and few people consumed
low energy-dense diets in line with recommendations. The change was largely due to
increased energy density of older adult’s diets, while young adults had high dietary
energy density at both time points. These data suggest efforts now focus on the evaluation
of the role of modifying energy density of the diet to reduce the risk of weight gain
in adults.
Keywords
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Biography
A. L. Grech is a PhD student, Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Biography
A. Rangan is an associate professor in dietetics, Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Biography
M. Allman-Farinelli is a professor in dietetics, Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 21, 2017
Accepted:
August 23,
2017
Received:
January 13,
2017
Footnotes
Supplementary materials: Tables 2 and 3 are available at www.jandonline.org
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT A. L. Grech is funded by the Australian Postgraduate Award.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
