Twenty-year trend in eating habits in French-speaking Switzerland: towards a healthier diet

Pedro Marques-Vidal, Jean-Michel Gaspoz, Jean-Marc Theler, Idris Guessous.
Twenty-year trends in dietary patterns in French-speaking Switzerland: towards healthier eating.. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2017, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.144998.

Abstract

Background: Dietary patterns provide a summary of dietary intake, but, to our knowledge, few studies have assessed trends in dietary patterns in the population.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess trends in dietary habits over 20 years, in a representative sample of the population of Geneva, Switzerland, taking into account age, sex, education and generation.

Method: Repeated independent cross-sectional analyses were conducted between 1993 and 2014. Food intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary habits were assessed using principal component analyses.

Results: Among 18,763 adults, one healthy dietary pattern ("fish and vegetables") and two unhealthy dietary patterns ("meat and chips" and "chocolate and sweets") were identified. Scores for the 'fish and vegetables' pattern increased, while scores for the 'meat and chips' and 'chocolate and sweets' patterns decreased in both sexes and in all age groups. The greater increase in the score for the 'fish and vegetables' model among less-educated participants led to a reduction in differences in education level (mean scores ± standard deviation in 1993: -0.56 ± 1.39 in the less-educated groups versus -0.05 ± 1.58 in the highly-educated groups; P < 0.001; scores in 2014: 0.28 ± 1.64 versus 0.24 ± 1.83, respectively; P = 0.772). Generational analysis showed that older age groups tended to show smaller changes than younger groups: the annual change in score for the 'chocolate and sweets' model was -0.021 (95% CI: -0.027, -0.014; P < 0.001) for the 35-44 age cohort compared with -0.002 (95% CI: -0.009, 0.005; P = 0.546) for the 45-54 age cohort.

Conclusions : Three dietary patterns were distinguished; scores for the "fish and vegetables" pattern increased, while scores for the "meat and chips" and "chocolate and sweets" patterns decreased. The greater increases in the scores for the 'fish and vegetables' model among less-educated participants led to a reduction in the differences in dietary intake between the various levels of education.

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