Generational differences in dietary pattern among Brazilian adults born between 1934 and 1975: a latent class analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To identify generational differences in the dietary patterns of Brazilian adults born between 1934 and 1975. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study from the baseline of the multicentre Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) cohort. Year of birth was categorized into three birth generations: Traditionalists (born between 1934 and 1945); Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964); and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1975). Food consumption was investigated using an FFQ. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify data-driven dietary patterns. SETTING: Brazil. SUBJECTS: Individuals (n 15 069) aged 35-74 years. RESULTS: A three-class model was generated from the LCA for each birth generation. Generation X presented higher energy intakes (kJ/kcal) from soft drinks (377·4/90·2) and sweets (1262·3/301·7) and lower energy intakes from fruit (1502·5/359·1) and vegetables (311·3/74·4) than Baby Boomers (283·7/67·8, 1047·7/250·4, 1756·0/419·7 and 365·3/87·3, respectively) and Traditionalists (186·2/44·5, 518·8/124·0, 1947·7/465·5 and 404·6/96·7, respectively). For Baby Boomers and Generation X, we found food patterns with similar structures: mixed pattern (22·7 and 29·7 %, respectively), prudent pattern (43·5 and 34·9 %, respectively) and processed pattern (33·8 and 35·4 %, respectively). Among Traditionalists, we could also identify mixed (30·9 %) and prudent (21·8 %) patterns, and a third pattern, named restricted dietary pattern (47·3 %). CONCLUSIONS: The younger generation presented higher frequencies of consuming a pattern characterized by a low nutritional diet, compared with other generations, indicating that they may age with a greater burden of chronic diseases. It is important to develop public health interventions promoting healthy foods, focusing on the youngest generations.

Association between perceived neighbourhood characteristics, physical activity and diet quality: results of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

BACKGROUND: The study explores associations between perceived neighbourhood characteristics, physical activity and diet quality, which in Latin America and Brazil have been scarcely studied and with inconsistent results. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 14,749 individuals who participated in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (Estudo Longitudinal de Saúde do Adulto, ELSA-Brasil) baseline. The study included current and retired civil servants, aged between 35 and 74 years, from universities and research institutes in six Brazilian states. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) long form was used to characterize physical activity during leisure time and commuting; additional questions assessed how often fruit and vegetables were consumed, as a proxy for diet quality. Neighbourhood characteristics were evaluated by the "Walking Environment" and "Availability of Healthy Foods" scales originally used in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Associations were examined using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: Perceiving a more walkable neighbourhood was positively associated with engaging in leisure time physical activity and doing so for longer weekly. Compared with those who saw their neighbourhood as less walkable, those who perceived it as more walkable had 1.69 (95 % CI 1.57-1.83) and 1.39 (1.28-1.52) greater odds of engaging in leisure time physical activity for more than 150 min/week or up to 150 min/week (vs. none), respectively. Perceiving a more walkable neighbourhood was also positively associated with transport-related physical activity. The same pattern was observed for diet: compared with participants who perceived healthy foods as less available in their neighbourhood, those who saw them as more available had odds 1.48 greater (1.31-1.66) of eating fruits, and 1.47 greater (1.30-1.66) of eating vegetables, more than once per day. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived walkability and neighbourhood availability of healthy food were independently associated with the practice of physical activity and diet quality, respectively, underlining the importance of neighbourhood-level public policies to changing and maintaining health-related habits.

Salt excretion in normotensive individuals with metabolic syndrome: a population-based study.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between sodium intake and metabolic syndrome (MS) in individuals free from the confounding effects of increased blood pressure (BP). In all, a total of 1655 individuals (45.8% men) who participated in the MONICA-WHO/Vitoria Project, mean age 45+/-11 years were investigated. According to NCEP-ATP lll criteria, MS prevalence was 32.9 and 85% of these individuals had BP >130/85 mm Hg. Thus, high BP represents the main MS risk factor. Twelve-hour nocturnal urine (1900 to 0700 hours) was used to measure urinary sodium and potassium excretion. Sodium excretion was associated with BP. From the optimal BP level up to stage lll hypertension, the mean (median) sodium excretion increased from 99 (89) to 128 (134) mEq and from 81 (69) to 112 (103) mEq in men and women, respectively (P<0.001 for trend; median). However, when 781 individuals with BP <130/85 mm Hg (including 80 drug-free normotensive individuals with MS) were stratified according to the gender and number of MS components, no significant differences were observed either in the urinary volume or in the sodium or potassium excretion. For each of the four MS components, sodium excretion was 96+/-48, 97+/-53, 108+/-65 and 97+/-49 mEq for men, and 83+/-51, 83+/-58, 80+/-49 and 93+/-45 mEq for women, respectively. No differences were found in urinary sodium excretion in normotensive individuals, regardless of the presence of MS. Therefore, it seems that high sodium intake is not an MS predictor per se as suggested earlier.