Highlights
- •Whole grain food is consumed on a regular basis (≥ 1 time/week) by 26.9% of the large sample of Italians.
- •The major food sources of whole grain are represented by bread, biscuits and pasta.
- •Whole grain consumption is likely to be influenced by socioeconomic status.
Abstract
Background and aims
Whole grain (WG) food consumption is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular
disease, cancer and neurological diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the
consumption of WG food and its major demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial and
behavioral determinants in a general Italian population.
Methods and results
Data were from the Italian Nutrition & Health Survey (INHES), a telephone-based survey
established in 2010–2013 including 9422 participants aged ≥5 years from all over Italy.
WG food intake was assessed by the European Food Propensity Questionnaire and included
bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, biscuits and WG soups. WG consumption was categorized
as none, occasional (<1 time/week) and regular (≥1 time/week). Overall, 26.9% of the
sample reported a regular consumption of WG food (27.2% of adults aged 20–97 y, and
21.9% of children/adolescents aged 5–19 y). In both age-groups, the major food source
contributing to total WG intake was WG bread followed by WG pasta. Among adults, greater
consumption of WG was associated with healthier lifestyle (e.g. sport activity), and
higher educational level. Eating meals outside of the house in adults, and spending
>2 h/day watching TV in children/adolescents were inversely associated with WG intake.
Conclusions
The percentage of WG consumers in Italy in 2010–2013 appears to be quite low and still
below that recorded in other countries of Europe where consumption is frequently over
50 percent. WG consumption is likely to be influenced by socioeconomic status and
is associated with a number of psychosocial factors, meal patterns and eating-related
behaviors.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular DiseasesAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Whole grain intake and cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis.Nutr Metabol Cardiovasc Dis. 2008; 18: 283-290
- Diet and primary prevention of stroke: systematic review and dietary recommendations by the ad hoc Working Group of the Italian Society of Human Nutrition.Nutr Metabol Cardiovasc Dis. 2018; 28: 309-334
- Whole-grain and fiber intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes.Am J Clin Nutr. 2003; 77: 622-629
- Dietary fibre, whole grains, and risk of colorectal cancer: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies.BMJ. 2011; 10: d6617
- Whole grain consumption trends and associations with body weight measures in the United States: results from the cross sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2012.Nutr J. 2016; 22: 8
- Effect of increased consumption of whole-grain foods on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk markers in healthy middle-aged persons: a randomized controlled trial.Am J Clin Nutr. 2010; 92: 733-740
- Effects of the regular consumption of wholemeal wheat foods on cardiovascular risk factors in healthy people.Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2010; 20: 186-194
- Recommendations for reporting whole-grain intake in observational and intervention studies.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015; 101: 903-907
- Healthgrain Forum. Perspective: a definition for whole-grain food products-recommendations from the healthgrain Forum.Adv Nutr. 2017; 8: 525-531
- Total dietary fiber intakes in the US population are related to whole grain consumption: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009 to 2010.Nutr Res. 2014; 34: 226-234
- U.S. Department of agriculture and U.S. Department of health and human services, dietary guidelines for Americans, 2010.7th ed. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC2011: 293-294 (January 2011. AdvNutr.2(3))
- Whole grain foods and health - a Scandinavian perspective.Food Nutr Res. 2013; 57
- Mediterranean diet pyramid today. Science and cultural updates.Publ Health Nutr. 2011; 14: 2274-2284
- Intakes of whole grain in an Italian sample of children, adolescents and adults.Eur J Nutr. 2017; 56: 521-533
- Food group consumption in an Italian population using the updated food classification system FoodEx2: results from the Italian Nutrition &HEalth Survey (INHES) study.Nutr Metabol Cardiovasc Dis. 2017; 27: 307-328
- Adherence to the Mediterranean food pattern predicts the prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and obesity, among healthy adults; the accuracy of the MedDietScore.Prev Med. 2007; 44: 335-340
- Food, youth and the mediterranean diet in Spain. Development of KIDMED, mediterranean diet quality index in children and adolescents.Publ Health Nutr. 2004; 7: 931-935
- Association of psychosocial risk factors with risk of acute myocardial infarction in 11119 cases and 13648 controls from 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study.Lancet. 2004; 364 (11-17): 953-962
- Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey.BMJ. 2000; 320 (6): 1240-1243
- Intake of whole grain in Scandinavia: intake, sources and compliance with new national recommendations.Scand J Publ Health. 2012; 40: 76-84
- Low whole grain intake in the UK: results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey rolling programme 2008-11.Br J Nutr. 2015; 113 (28): 1643-1651
- Consumption of whole grains in French children, adolescents and adults.Br J Nutr. 2014; 112: 1674-1684
- Eating patterns and portion size associated with obesity in a Swedish population.Appetite. 2009; 52: 21-26
- Whole grain in children's diet: intake, food sources and trends.Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010; 64: 745-751
- Nutrition knowledge is associated with higher adherence to Mediterranean diet and lower prevalence of obesity. Results from the Moli-sani study.Appetite. 2013; 68: 139-469
- Whole-grain consumption is associated with diet quality and nutrient intake in adults: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004.J Am Diet Assoc. 2010; 110: 1461-1468
- Moli-sani project Investigators. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a better health-related quality of life: a possible role of high dietary antioxidant content.BMJ Open. 2013 Aug 13; 3
- Mediterranean-type diet is associated with higher psychological resilience in a general adult population: findings from the Moli-sani study.Eur J Clin Nutr. 2018; 72: 154-160
- The evolution of the whole grain partnership in Denmark. copenhagen business school and the Danish whole grain partnership: copenhagen.2014
- Grain foods are contributors of nutrient density for American adults and help close nutrient recommendation gaps: data from the national health and nutrition examination survey, 2009-2012.Nutrients. 2017 Aug 14; 9
Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 11, 2019
Accepted:
March 1,
2019
Received in revised form:
February 11,
2019
Received:
October 2,
2018
Handling Editor: F. GallettiIdentification
Copyright
© 2019 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
