title: Compliance with dietary guidelines in grocery purchasing among older adults by chewing ability and socio-economic status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dietary guidelines promote good nutrition through healthy eating. Chewing deficiencies may hinder food intake while lower socio-economic status (SES) may restrict food purchasing. The aim was to examine compliance of grocery purchasing behaviour with dietary guidelines by chewing ability and SES.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adults aged 60-71 years in Adelaide, South Australia were surveyed in 2008. Dietary guideline compliance was measured using 16 grocery purchasing items. Chewing ability was based on a 5-item Chewing Index. SES was assessed using a subjective social status rating representing where people stand in society.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses were collected from n = 444 persons (response rate = 68.8%). Among dentate persons, 10.3% were chewing deficient and 21.3% were in the lower SES group. Prevalence ratios (PR: 95% CI) controlling for SES showed chewing deficiency was related to (p < 0.05) non-compliance with dietary guidelines in relation to bread (1.7: 1.1-2.5), juice (2.7: 1.6-4.5), tinned fruit (2.9: 1.5-5.6), yoghurt (2.1: 1.2-3.7) and tinned fish (1.5: 1.2-1.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chewing deficiency was associated with lower compliance with dietary guidelines in relation to fibre, sugar, fat and salt. Chewing deficiency may have a direct effect on diet as well as reflect a clustering of risk in relation to a range of health behaviours.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. david.brennan@adelaide.edu.au
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Kiran A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy / Q000191:economics*; D012923:Social Class; D013021:South Australia