Profiles of a healthful diet and its relationship to biomarkers in a population sample from Mediterranean southern France.
OBJECTIVE
The failure of single-nutrient supplementation to prevent disease in intervention studies underlines the necessity to develop a holistic view of food intake. The objectives of this study were to devise a diet quality index (DQI) and identify biomarkers of multidimensional dietary behavior.


METHODS
A nutrition survey was conducted in Mediterranean southern France by means of a food frequency questionnaire. The DQI was based on current dietary recommendations for prevention of diet-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and some cancers. A second DQI included tobacco use.


METHODS
performed Spearman rank correlations, cross-classifications and intraclass correlations were computed between the DQI and biomarkers.


RESULTS
Of the 146 subjects, 10 had a healthful diet and 18 had a poor diet. Erythrocyte omega-3 fatty acids-eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-beta carotene, and vitamin E concentrations were lower and cholesterol concentrations were higher in the poor diet; the difference was significant for EPA and DHA and borderline significant for vitamin E. Significant correlation was found between the DQI and vitamin E (-0.12), EPA (-0.30), and DHA (-0.28), and beta carotene (-0.17) when tobacco use was considered, but not between the DQI and cholesterol. The correlation coefficient reached 0.58 (P0.01) for a composite index based on all biomarkers except cholesterol.


CONCLUSIONS
Subjects with a beta carotene levels greater thanl micromol/L, vitamin E greater than 30 micromol/L and EPA greater than 0.65% and DHA greater than 4% of fatty acids in erythrocytes were likely to have a healthful diet. Each biomarker indicated the quality of diet, but correlation was higher with a composite index.
Gerber
M J
MJ
Groupe d'Epidémiologie Métabolique, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie, Montpellier, France.
Scali
J D
JD
Michaud
A
A
Durand
M D
MD
Astre
C M
CM
Dallongeville
J
J
Romon
M M
MM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000097:blood*; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000097:blood*; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D019207:beta Carotene; D014810:Vitamin E; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D002784:Cholesterol; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid