Dairy Product Intake in Older Adults across Europe Based On the SHARE Database

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate dairy intake patterns in older adults across Europe.

Methods: We conducted cross-sectional analysis using data from the fourth wave (2011/2012) of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) database. Prevalence rates regarding the number of weekly servings of dairy in individuals ≥50 years old were calculated for 16 European countries.

Results: The overall prevalence rate of daily dairy product intake in Europe was 66.95% (CI95%: 66.28–67.63%). Global prevalence in men was 63.35% (CI95%:62.37–64.35%) and in women 69.80% (CI95%:68.86–70.71%). Among men, this type of intake was highest in Denmark (84.89% [CI95%: 79.11–90.66%]) and lowest in Poland (26.15% [CI95%: 22.71–29.58%]). Among women, the highest prevalence was found in Spain (89.51% [CI95%: 85.16–93.86%]) and the lowest in Poland (31.33% [CI95%: 27.05–35.61%]). The overall prevalence rate of dairy product intake less than once a week was 3.99% (CI95%: 3.83–4.16%). In terms of gender, men in Hungary (11.02% [CI95%: 9.16–12.89%]) and women in Slovenia (8.76% [CI95%: 7.26–10.25%]) had the lowest such intake.

Conclusions: Dairy intake is very heterogeneous across Europe, with overall intake levels lower than recommended. Differences were also observed between genders, with a lower intake in men, and with age, with the intake lower in older individuals.

Keywords:

• Dairy intake
• elderly
• Europe
• nutrition
• SHARE database

Acknowledgments

This paper uses data from SHARE wave 4 release 1.1.1, as of March 28th 2013 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w4.111).

Additional information

Funding

The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic programme Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Programme (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5- CT-2005-028857, and SHARELIFE, CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and through the 7th Framework Programme (SHARE-PREP, N° 211909, SHARE-LEAP, N° 227822 and SHARE M4, N° 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11 and OGHA 04-064) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions). The work was also supported by UID/MULTI/04378/2019 with funding from FCT/ MCTES through national funds.