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. 2016 Feb;19(3):477-85.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980015001470. Epub 2015 May 20.

The association between socio-economic position and diet quality in Australian adults

Kathryn Backholer  1 , Elizabeth Spencer  1 , Emma Gearon  1 , Dianna J Magliano  2 , Sarah A McNaughton  3 , Jonathan E Shaw  4 , Anna Peeters  1
Affiliations

The association between socio-economic position and diet quality in Australian adults

Kathryn Backholer et al. Public Health Nutr. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between multiple measures of socio-economic position (SEP) and diet quality, using a diet quality index representing current national dietary guidelines, in the Australian adult population.

Design: Cross-sectional study. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate the association between indicators of SEP (educational attainment, level of income and area-level disadvantage) and diet quality (measured using the Dietary Guideline Index (DGI)) in the total sample and stratified by sex and age (≤55 years and >55 years).

Setting: A large randomly selected sample of the Australian adult population.

Subjects: Australian adults (n 9296; aged ≥25 years) from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study.

Results: A higher level of educational attainment and income and a lower level of area-level disadvantage were significantly associated with a higher DGI score, across the gradient of SEP. The association between indicators of SEP and DGI score was consistently stronger among those aged ≤55 years compared with their older counterparts. The most disadvantaged group had a DGI score between 2 and 5 units lower (depending on the marker of SEP) compared with the group with the least disadvantage.

Conclusions: A higher level of SEP was consistently associated with a higher level of diet quality for all indicators of SEP examined. In order to reduce socio-economic inequalities in diet quality, healthy eating initiatives need to act across the gradient of socio-economic disadvantage with a proportionate focus on those with greater socio-economic disadvantage.

Keywords: Diet quality; Education; Obesity; Socio-economic position.

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