title: Dietary patterns and whole grain cereals in the Scandinavian countries--differences and similarities. The HELGA project.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify dietary patterns with whole grains as a main focus to see if there is a similar whole grain pattern in the three Scandinavian countries; Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Another objective is to see if items suggested for a Nordic Food Index will form a typical Nordic pattern when using factor analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The HELGA study population is based on samples of existing cohorts: the Norwegian Women and Cancer Study, the Swedish Västerbotten cohort and the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study. The HELGA study aims to generate knowledge about the health effects of whole grain foods.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included a total of 119 913 participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  The associations among food variables from FFQ were investigated by principal component analysis. Only food groups common for all three cohorts were included. High factor loading of a food item shows high correlation of the item to the specific diet pattern.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main whole grain for Denmark and Sweden was rye, while Norway had highest consumption of wheat. Three similar patterns were found: a cereal pattern, a meat pattern and a bread pattern. However, even if the patterns look similar, the food items belonging to the patterns differ between countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High loadings on breakfast cereals and whole grain oat were common in the cereal patterns for all three countries. Thus, the cereal pattern may be considered a common Scandinavian whole grain pattern. Food items belonging to a Nordic Food Index were distributed between different patterns.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Community Medicine,UiT The Arctic University of Norway,N-9037 Tromsø,Norway.
authors.forename: Dagrun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Engeset
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Community Medicine,UiT The Arctic University of Norway,N-9037 Tromsø,Norway.
authors.forename: Dag
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hofoss
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine,Nutritional Research,Umeå University,Umeå,Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: 4Diet,Genes and Environment,The Danish Cancer Society Research Center,Copenhagen,Denmark.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: 4Diet,Genes and Environment,The Danish Cancer Society Research Center,Copenhagen,Denmark.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tjønneland
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Community Medicine,UiT The Arctic University of Norway,N-9037 Tromsø,Norway.
authors.forename: Guri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Skeie
mesh_terms: D001939:Bread; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000208:ethnology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012434:Secale / Q000737:chemistry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry; D000067348:Whole Grains
keywords: Principal component analysis