Identification of foods contributing to the dietary lipid profile of a Mediterranean population

Abstract

The identification of the target foods that most affect the fat content of a diet, independently whether or not they contain fat, can be a useful tool in the process of drawing up more effective dietary guidelines with nutritional education strategies more directed at the needs of each population. With this purpose, the contribution analysis designed by Block and colleagues and multiple linear regression models were applied to a representative sample of Catalonia. Olive oil was the food that provided the highest absolute and relative percentage of fat-derived energy intake and cheese the food that provided the highest percentage of saturated fat-derived energy intake. According to the results of the present work, during the last 10 years the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Catalonia has increased, more in women than men. The intake of white fish is significantly higher than the intake of blue fish, which should be increased in both men and women, and red meat is still the first meat source in this population. Special attention should be paid to the increasing sweet cereal consumption, which is a source of invisible fat to the diet.