title: The association between adherence to the New Nordic Diet and diet quality.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have reported a positive association between scoring on healthy Nordic diet scales and the intake of healthy foods and nutrients, and also with higher intake of meat, sweets, cakes, and energy in general. These studies have used the same food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) responses for constructing the diet score as for calculating intakes of foods and nutrients. Thus, it is not clear whether the coexistence of healthy and less healthy dietary aspects among adherers to Nordic diets would occur even though separate methods were applied for exploring these relations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the association between adherence to the New Nordic Diet (NND), derived from an FFQ, and diet quality, determined from two 24-h dietary recall interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 65 parents of toddlers in Southern Norway answered the NND FFQ and two 24-h dietary recall interviews. NND adherence was determined from the FFQ and categorized into low, medium, and high adherence. The two 24-h recalls provided data for the intake of specific foods and nutrients, selected on the basis of the Norwegian food-based guidelines as an indicator of a healthy diet. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for assessing differences in food and nutrient intake across NND groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High NND adherence derived from FFQ was associated with a high intake of fruits (p=0.004) and fiber (p=0.02), and a low intake of meat (p=0.004) and margarines (p=0.05), derived from recalls. A larger proportion of high NND adherers (68%) complied with the national dietary recommendation targeting meat intake compared with low NND adherers (29%) (p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study showed that higher NND adherence measured with FFQ was associated with a higher intake of selected healthy foods and nutrients, measured with recalls. However, a higher intake of meat, sweets, and energy, as earlier reported, was not observed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway; helga.birgit.bjornara@uia.no.
authors.forename: Helga Birgit
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Bjørnarå
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Nina Cecilie
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Øverby
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Tonje Holte
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Stea
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Monica Klungland
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Torstveit
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Elisabet Rudjord
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Hillesund
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Lene Frost
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Sveinung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berntsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Sport and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors.forename: Elling
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bere
keywords: New Nordic Diet; Norwegian food-based guidelines; diet score; dietary intake; nutrient intake