Table 1.
Formation of a healthy diet index.
| Food Item | Question | Response Options (Score in the Healthy Diet Index) Cutoff for Healthy Diet Change |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetables/berries | How often have you eaten vegetables or root vegetables (not potatoes) as such, grated, or as fresh salads during the past week (seven days)? | Not one (0) 1–2 days (0.33) 3–5 days (0.67) 6–7 days (1) |
| How often have you eaten fresh or frozen berries or fruits during the past week? | Not one (0) 1–2 days (0.33) 3–5 days (0.67) 6–7 days (1) |
|
| Fats | What fat in your home is usually used for cooking? | Mostly vegetable oil (1) Mostly soft spread margarine (0.5) Mostly margarine (0.5) Mostly butter and oil mixture (0) Mostly butter (0) Food is not cooked in my home (0.5) |
| What fat in your home is usually used for baking? | Mostly vegetable oil (1) Mostly soft spread margarine (0.5) Mostly margarine (0.5) Mostly butter and oil mixture (0) Mostly butter (0) I do not bake at home (0.5) |
|
| If you drink milk, do you usually use: | Ordinary cow’s milk (≈3.8% fat) 1 Whole milk (≈3.5% fat) 1 Semi-skimmed milk (≈1.5% fat) 1 Skimmed milk (≈0.5% fat) 1 I do not drink milk 1 |
|
| Do you eat the fat that is visible on the meat in your food (lard, pork fat)? | Never (1) Rarely (0.67) Often (0.33) Always (0) I do not eat pork (0.5) |
|
| Salt | How often do you add salt to your food at the table? | Never (1) Usually, when the food does not taste salty enough (0.5) Sometimes, before tasting (0) |
| Sugar | How often do you drink sweet (sugary) soft drinks? | Never (1) Once a week or less (0.67) A few times a week (0.33) Once a day or more (0) |
| How often do you eat sweets? | Never (1) Once a week or less (0.67) A few times a week (0.33) Once a day or more (0) |
|
| How many teaspoons of fine sugar do you use when drinking one cup of coffee or tea? How many cups of coffee/tea do you drink per day? |
Space was provided to write a number, which was then multiplied by the number of cups of coffee/tea per day. Range 0–48. The total number was scaled by dividing by 10, and adding 1. Those who scored below −1 were winsorized to −1. The final score ranged from −1 to +1. |
1 For dairy fats (from milk) and spreads, three measures were calculated for saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). SFA = the proportion of fats in milk/spreads × 0.714; MUFA = milk/spreads fats × 0.257; PUFA = milk/spreads × 0.029. Score for healthy diet index: SFA/−0.305 + MUFA/−0.305 + PUFA/+ 0.305.