Trends in food consumption over 30 years: evidence from a British birth cohort
Open accessAbstract
Background/objectives As populations are ageing, more emphasis is placed on healthy ageing. Over the past decades, food consumption patterns and food availability have also changed drastically, and therefore this study aimed to describe these changes in an ageing population.Subjects/methods Food consumption of participants from the Medical Research Council National Survey on Health and Development, a British birth cohort study, was assessed using a 5-day estimated food records at 60-64 years (2006-11), 53 years (1999), 43 years (1989) and 36 years (1982). Only those who recorded ⩾3 days at all four time points were included in the analyses, n=989 (n=438 men and n=551 women); trends were tested using the Friedman test.Results Consumption of white bread, whole milk, fats and oils, meat and meat products, alcoholic drinks, coffee, sugar, preserves and confectionery decreased (P<0.001), whereas consumption of wholemeal and granary bread, semi-skimmed milk, fish and fruit and vegetables increased (P<0.001) over time. These observed changes in food consumption reflect a healthier diet, for example, replacement of white bread by granary and wholemeal bread, lower consumption of red and processed meats, somewhat higher consumption of fish, higher consumption of vegetables and lower consumption of coffee. This could partly be because of ageing of the cohort or compliance with dietary recommendations, facilitated by greater availability of healthier foods, such as semi-skimmed milk and wholegrain bread, in the UK.Conclusions The changes in food consumption in this British birth cohort over the past three decades are encouraging and reflect a healthier diet in the later years.
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In healthy lean women, a more regular meal frequency led to improvement in peak insulin concentrations and AUC of insulin.
“The studies by Farshchi et al. (16) showed that having a more regular meal frequency led to improvement in peak insulin concentrations and AUC of insulin with a more regular meal frequency in healthy lean women.”
From Irregularity of energy intake at meals: prospective associations with the metabolic syndrome in adults of the 1946 British birth cohort (2016) · cites this paper as [16]
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- Authors
- Pot, G. K., Prynne, C. J., Almoosawi, S., Kuh, D., Stephen, A. A. M., & teams, T. N. S. A. D. C.
- Affiliations
- MRC Elsie Widdowson Laboratory (GB)
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pot, G K
- Venue
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Published
- 2014-10-29
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 817-823
- ISSN
- 0954-3007 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-5640
- PMC
- PMC4926956
- OpenAlex
- W2056368126
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 3.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Open Research (University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Food Standards Agency
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling
- Keywords
- food consumption trends, dietary change, healthy aging, older adults, birth cohort, whole grain bread, fish consumption, fruit and vegetable intake, red and processed meat, alcohol consumption, food availability
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aging, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diet, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Nutrition Surveys, Patient Compliance, Prospective Studies, Cohort Studies, Diet Records, Nutrition Policy, Elder Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
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