Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T19:43:57.842Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The changing structure of diets in the European Union in relation to healthy eating guidelines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Josef Schmidhuber  and
W Bruce Traill
Josef Schmidhuber
Affiliation:
Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy
W Bruce Traill*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Food Economics, The University of Reading, PO Box 237, Reading RG6 6AR, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Email w.b.traill@rdg.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective

Our objective in this paper is to assess diets in the European Union (EU) in relation to the recommendations of the recent World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization expert consultation and to show how diets have changed between 1961 and 2001.

Data and methods

Computations make use of FAOSTAT data on food availability at country level linked to a food composition database to convert foods to nutrients. We further explore the growing similarity of diets in the EU by making use of a consumption similarity index. The index provides a single number measure of dietary overlap between countries.

Results

The data confirm the excessive consumption by almost all countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugars, and the convergence of nutrient intakes across the EU. Whereas in 1961 diets in several European countries were more similar to US diets than to those of other European countries, this is no longer the case; moreover, while EU diets have become more homogeneous, the EU as a whole and the USA have become less similar over time.

Conclusions

Although the dominant cause of greater similarity in EU diets over the period studied is increased intakes in Mediterranean countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugar, also important are reductions in saturated fat and sugar in some Northern European countries. This suggests that healthy eating messages are finally having an impact on diets; a distinctly European diet may also be emerging.

Keywords

DietsHealth economicsObesityConvergence
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , August 2006 , pp. 584 - 595
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

1World Health Organization (WHO)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Diet, Nutrition and The Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series No. 916 Geneva: WHO, 2003.Google Scholar
2International Obesity Task Force (IOTF)/European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). www.iotf.org/database/GlobalAdultAugust2005.asp.Google Scholar
3Kenkel, DS, Manning, W. Economic evaluation of nutrition policy. Or there's no such thing as a free lunch. Food Policy 1999; 24(2–3): 145–62.Google Scholar
4US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Borne Illness Calculator [online]. Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/foodvorneillness/. Accessed 1 April 2004.Google Scholar
5Grigg, D. The European diet: regional variations in food consumption in the 1980s. Geoforum 1993; 24(3): 279–89.Google Scholar
6Gil, JM, Gracia, A, Perez y Perez, L. Food consumption and economic development in the European Union. European Review of Agricultural Economics 1995; 22(3): 385–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Tiffin, R, Tiffin, A. Estimates of food demand elasticities for Great Britain. Journal of Agricultural Economics 1999; 50(1): 140–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Mazzocchi, M. Time-varying parameters in the Almost Ideal Demand System: an empirical appraisal. European Review of Agricultural Economics 2003; 30(2): 241–70.Google Scholar
9Lusk, JL, House, LO, Valli, C, Jaeger, SR, Moore, M, Morrow, JL, et al. Effect of information about benefits of biotechnology on consumer acceptance of genetically modified food: evidence from the United States, England and France. European Review of Agricultural Economics 2004; 31(2): 179–204.Google Scholar
10Huang, KS. Nutrient demand elasticities in a complete food demand system. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1996; 78: 21–9.Google Scholar
11Chen, S-H, Shogren, JF, Orazem, PF, Crocker, TD. Prices and health: identifying the effects of nutrition, exercise and medication choices on blood pressure. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 2002; 84: 990–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Lagiou, P, Trichopoulou, A. The DAFNE Initiative: the methodology for assessing dietary patterns across Europe using household budget survey data. Public Health Nutrition 2001; 4(6): 1135–41.Google Scholar
13US Department of Agriculture. National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16. [online]. Available at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR16/sr16.html. Accessed 1 April 2003.Google Scholar
14Putnam, J, Allshouse, J, Kantor, LS. Per capita food supply trends: more calories, refined carbohydrates and fats. FoodReview 2002; 25(3): 2–15.Google Scholar
15Kantor, LS, Lipton, K, Manchester, A, Oliveira, V. Estimating and addressing America's food losses. FoodReview 1997: (Jan–Apr): 2–12.Google Scholar
16Henderson, L, Gregory, J, Swan, G. National Diet and Nutritional Survey London: HMSO, 2002.Google Scholar
17Naska, A, Vasdekis, VGS, Trichopoulou, A, Friel, S, Leonhauser, IU, Moreiras, O, et al. Fruit and vegetable availability among ten European countries: how does it compare with the 'five-a day' recommendation? DAFNE I and II projects of the European Commission. British Journal of Nutrition 2000; 84(4): 549–56.Google Scholar
18Michaely, M. Multilateral balancing in international trade. American Economic Review 1962; LII.Google Scholar