gms | German Medical Science

Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007

17. bis 21.09.2007, Augsburg

Socioeconomic differences in food habits in Germany. Association between education, income, and occupation and consumption of fruits and vegetables

Meeting Abstract

  • Gabriele Berg - Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld
  • Gudrun Allemendinger - Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Bielefeld
  • Thomas Altenhöhner - Bertelsmannstiftung, Gütersloh
  • Gert Mensink - Robert Koch Institut, Berlin

Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007. Augsburg, 17.-21.09.2007. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2007. Doc07gmds480

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Veröffentlicht: 6. September 2007

© 2007 Berg et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open Access-Artikel und steht unter den Creative Commons Lizenzbedingungen (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.de). Er darf vervielfältigt, verbreitet und öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden, vorausgesetzt dass Autor und Quelle genannt werden.


Gliederung

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Introduction: It is known, that socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with unhealthy dietary patterns. In European countries, only a few studies have reported such an SES difference. We analysed this association in a representative sample of the adult German population.

Methods: In the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998 in total 7,124 persons were asked about their SES background, life style and eating habits with a self-administered questionnaire. A sub sample of 4030 women and men aged 18 to 79 years were interviewed about their food habits using the validated dietary assessment software DISHES. SES was estimated by the Winkler Index. Multiple linear regression models were calculated with the dependent variable fruit and/or vegetable consumption and the independent variable SES. Sex, region, age, BMI, smoking habits, and energy intake were considered as confounders. In additional analyses, the SES components school education, household income, and occupational status were considered separately.

Result: In total 20.9% of persons were grouped in the lower SES, 56.6% in the middle class and 22.6% in the higher class. For fruit and vegetables intake, among women the median increases from 362 g/d in the lower class to 421 g/d in the upper class. Among men the median intake increases from 319 g/d in the lower class to 387 g/d in the upper class. In the multiple model, fruit and vegetable consumption increases from the low to the middle class with 28.8 g/d (95% CI: 10.3-47.4 g/d) and from the low to the high SES class with 53.3 g/d (95% CI: 30.6-76.0 g/d). For school education the results were similar. Household income and occupational status showed no significant relationship with SES.

Discussion: There is a clear association between socioeconomic status and fruit and vegetable consumption in Germany. These differences were mainly explained by school education.