Dietary intakes by different markers of socioeconomic status: results of a New Zealand workforce survey.
OBJECTIVE
To compare dietary nutrient and food group intakes of men and women in a work force with various measures of socioeconomic status.


METHODS
Daily nutrient intakes were calculated from a self-administered food frequency questionnaire from participants in a cross-sectional health screening survey of a multiracial workforce carried out between May 1988 and April 1990. Participants comprised 5517 Maori, Pacific Island and Other workers (3997 men, 1520 women) aged 40 to 78 years. Socioeconomic measures included the New Zealand Socioeconomic Index (NZSEI), gross household income and level of education.


RESULTS
In general, there were trends across socioeconomic status levels with lower NZSEI occupational classes, lower family income, and non-tertiary education groups having lower intakes of dietary fibre, calcium, and alcohol and higher intakes of dietary cholesterol. These were reflected by their lower intakes of fruit, vegetables, milk, cheese and wine, and higher intakes of eggs. However, associations were not consistent across all measures of socioeconomic status.


CONCLUSIONS
Dietary intakes showed a generally more adverse pattern in the lower socioeconomic strata. NZSEI and education were associated with food group selections, whereas nutrient intakes were associated with income. More money available for food could improve nutrition. Public health programmes to improve nutrition need to be targeted at these groups and be coupled with personal support and structural changes that make "healthy choices the easy choices".
Metcalf
Patricia
P
Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, Auckland. p.metcalf@auckland.ac.nz
Scragg
Robert
R
Davis
Peter
P
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors