Table 2.
Energy-standardised food group intakes and the adherence to their corresponding food-based dietary guidelines in four European populations, aged ≥ 18 years
| Cut-offs | Denmark (n = 2025) | Czech Republic (n = 1869) | Italy (n = 2831) | France (n = 2624) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Median | (P25; P75) | %adh | Mean | Median | (P25; P75) | %adh | Mean | Median | (P25; P75) | %adh | Mean | Median | (P25; P75) | %adh | ||
| Foods to increase | |||||||||||||||||
| Fruit, g/day | ≥ 200 | 174* | 133 | (36.0; 255) | 35% | 118* | 83 | (12.0; 171) | 20% | 199* | 163 | (76; 275) | 40% | 140* | 95 | (0.0; 210) | 26% |
| Vegetables, g/day | ≥ 200 | 147* | 112 | (63; 184) | 21% | 95* | 74 | (39.0; 127) | 10% | 239* | 206 | (138; 300) | 53% | 187* | 157 | (84; 254) | 37% |
| Legumes. g/day | ≥ 19 | 6.5 | 1.6 | (0.0; 6.7) | 10% | 7.5 | 0.0 | (0.0; 3.0) | 12% | 11.0 | 0.0 | (0.0; 2.4) | 19% | 16.5* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.8) | 18% |
| Nuts and seeds, g/day | ≥ 15 | 2.2 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | 5% | 2.6 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | 7% | 0.5* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | 1% | 1.7 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | 3% |
| Dairy products, g/day | ≥ 300 | 302* | 248 | (113; 422) | 41% | 134 | 94 | (31.0; 192) | 12% | 129 | 116 | (8.0; 20) | 8% | 199* | 152 | (55; 290) | 24% |
| Fish, g/day | ≥ 21 | 18.0 | 5.5 | (0.0; 24.1) | 28% | 11.7 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | 17% | 44.6* | 6.5 | (0.0; 77) | 42% | 34.3* | 4.3 | (0.0; 54) | 43% |
| Foods to decrease | |||||||||||||||||
| Red and processed meat, g/day | ≤ 71 | 94 | 85 | (51; 127) | 39% | 88 | 82 | (46.0; 125) | 42% | 84 | 77 | (39.2; 119) | 51% | 93 | 82 | (40.5; 133) | 43% |
| Cheese, g/day | ≤ 21 | 29.3 | 24.3 | (11.3; 42.0) | 44% | 20.9* | 13.2 | (0.0; 33.0) | 63% | 53* | 47.2 | (16.2; 76) | 28% | 30.1 | 24.0 | (2.9; 45.6) | 46% |
| Sweet beveragesa, ml/day | ≤ 71 | 224* | 127 | (0.0; 305) | 40% | 108 | 0.0 | (0.0; 144) | 63% | 47.5* | 0.0 | (0.0; 65) | 76% | 121 | 6.0 | (0.0; 171) | 56% |
| Alcohol (ethanol), g/day | ≤ 10 | 14.6* | 7.3 | (0.0; 22.6) | 56% | 10.3 | 4.4 | (0.0; 16.0) | 66% | 8.2 | 0.1 | (0.0; 13.7) | 67% | 9.3 | 0.1 | (0.0; 14.5) | 67% |
| Foods to replace | |||||||||||||||||
| Cereals, total, g/day | – | 26.1* | 16.9 | (6.7; 35.0) | – | 48.2 | 32.5 | (11.0; 72) | – | 46.6 | 38.3 | (0.6; 73) | – | 38.8* | 16.05 | (0.0; 57) | – |
| Cereals, whole grains, g/day | – | 0.4 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 0.1 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 0.8 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 1.8 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – |
| Pasta, total, g/day | – | 5.2* | 0.0 | (0.0; 1.2) | – | 39.9* | 13.6 | (0.0; 66) | – | 52* | 48.4 | (29.8; 82) | – | 10.3* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – |
| Pasta, whole grains, g/day | – | – | – | – | 0.0* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 0.3* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 9.8* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | |
| Bread, total, g/day | – | 149* | 140 | (94; 194) | – | 122* | 118 | (83; 157) | – | 109* | 103 | (60; 151) | – | 98* | 92 | (51; 139) | – |
| Bread, whole grains, g/day | – | 52* | 44.3 | (22.4; 72) | – | 7.9* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 41.4* | 0.0 | (0.0; 70) | – | 16.3* | 0.0 | (0.0; 6.1) | – |
| Breakfast cereals, total, g/day | – | 11.8* | 0.6 | (0.0; 18.0) | – | 2.9 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 1.5 | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 5.3* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – |
| Breakfast cereals, whole grains, g/day | – | 9.3* | 0.0 | (0.0; 12.1) | – | 1.9* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 0.5* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – | 3.4* | 0.0 | (0.0; 0.0) | – |
| Red meat, g/day | – | 66* | 57.1 | (28.3; 93) | – | 34.0* | 28.4 | (0.0; 55) | – | 58 | 53 | (0.0; 89) | – | 58 | 45.6 | (0.0; 91) | – |
| Processed meat, g/day | – | 27.3 | 19.4 | (7.1; 37.2) | – | 54* | 44.5 | (14.0; 80) | – | 25.5 | 19.4 | (0.0; 38.9) | – | 34.7* | 22.6 | (0.0; 54) | – |
| White meat, g/day | – | 21.3 | 1.6 | (0.0; 29.9) | – | 22.5 | 0.0 | (0.0; 41.0) | – | 23.5 | 0.0 | (0.0; 44.9) | – | 31.5* | 0.0 | (0.0; 52) | – |
| Butter and hard margarines, g/day | – | 24.8* | 22.7 | (13.5; 33.8) | – | 17.6* | 15.5 | (7.0; 25.0) | – | 2.8* | 0.0 | (0.0; 3.8) | – | 16.3* | 13.7 | (5.8; 24.0) | – |
| Soft margarine and oils, g/day | – | 1.9* | 0.0 | (0.0; 1.5) | – | 15.0* | 13.1 | (7.0; 21.0) | – | 34.8* | 34.0 | (26.3; 42.7) | – | 11.2* | 7.4 | (0.4; 17.3) | – |
Intake of food groups are standardised to a 2000 kcal/day diet
%adherence represents a proxy for the percentage of the population that adhere to food-based dietary guidelines
aSweet beverages instead of sugar-sweetened beverages due to a lack of detailed data on beverages
*Bonferroni p < 0.0001 test comparison for intake that was significantly different from all other three countries under study