Dietary intake and main sources of plant lignans in five European countries

Figures & data

Table 1 Description of the food consumption data

Country	Year	Dietary data level	N, age	Methodology used	Reference
Denmark	2000–2002	National dietary survey, data at individua. level	F: 1,307; M: 1,156 25–64 years	7-day pre-coded food record	(25)
Finland	2002	National dietary survey (FINDIET), data at individual level	F: 1,095; M: 912 25–64 years	48-h dietary recall	(26)
Italy	1994–1996	National dietary survey, data at individual level	F: 682; M: 586 25–64 years	7-day mixed survey technique	(27)
Sweden	1987–1990	Cohort studies (Swedish Mammography Cohort (SMC) & Cohort of Swedish Men (COSM), data at group level	F: 37,854; M: 45,906 45–79 years	96-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)	(28)
United Kingdom	2000–2001	National dietary survey, data at individual level	F: 958; M: 766 19–64 years	7-day dietary record	(29)

F = females; M = males.

Table 2 Lignan intakes (g/day) from five European countries calculated using the Dutch and the Finnish (Fineli^®) lignan database (mean values)

	Dutch lignan database					Finnish (Fineli^®) lignan database
Country	Estimated lignan intake (g/day)					Estimated lignan intake (g/day)
	SECO	MAT	LARI	PINO	Total	SECO	MAT	Total
Denmark
All (n = 2,463)	314	41	630	473	1,459	375	57	432
Female (n = 1,307 )	314	43	641	486	1,484	380	59	439
Male (n=1,156)	315	38	618	459	1,430	370	54	424
Finland
All (n=2,007)	188	23	469	401	1,081	245	40	285
Female (n=1,095)	176	21	455	384	1,036	245	34	279
Male (n=912)	202	26	486	422	1136	246	48	293
Italy
All (n=1,268)	143	11	500	467	1,120	290	19	309
Female (n=682)	125	9	477	452	1,062	257	16	272
Male (n=586)	165	14	527	484	1,188	329	23	351
Sweden
All (n=83,760)	224	37	735	777	1,773	318	60	377
Female (n=37,854)	203	28	657	675	1,563	300	39	339
Male (n=45,906)	242	45	799	861	1,947	332	77	409
United Kingdom
All (n=1,724)	205	19	535	480	1,239	267	17	285
Female (n=891)	197	19	507	450	1,173	265	17	282
Male (n=833)	214	19	570	518	1,321	270	18	288

Fig. 1 Distribution of estimated lignan intake (µg/day) among adults in Denmark (A), Finland (B), and Italy (C) calculated using the Dutch and the Finnish (Fineli^®) lignan database.

Table 3 Contribution of aggregated food groups and individual foods to the total lignan intake by gender in five European countries calculated using the Dutch lignan database¹(%)

	Denmark		Finland		Italy		Sweden		United Kingdom
Food groups	Men (%)	Women (%)	Men (%)	Women (%)	Men (%)	Women (%)	Men (%)	Women (%)	Men (%)	Women (%)
Cereals and grain products	30	27	36	27	17	17	43	26	17	15
Rye	17	21	24	17	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wheat	7	4	7	6	11	9	24	12	8	6
Other grains	2	2	1	1	1	2	5	4	8	8
Crisp breads	0	0	2	2	3	5	14	10	0	0
Vegetables	19	20	16	20	26	28	18	30	23	25
Cabbages	5	5	4	6	5	5	11	19	16	17
Fruit vegetables	5	6	6	7	15	16	2	3	3	3
Onion-family vegetables	5	5	3	3	2	2	2	2	0	0
Fruit and berries	18	25	22	31	42	46	15	23	15	20
Citrus fruit	1	2	4	6	4	4	2	3	1	1
Malaceous and prunus fruit	1	2	5	8	36	38	7	10	6	7
Other fruit	14	19	4	5	1	1	2	4	5	7
Berries	1	1	5	8	1	2	4	5	2	4
Beverages	21	21	17	17	4	5	19	18	30	32
Coffee	15	12	12	10	3	3	9	9	11	10
Tea	5	9	5	8	1	2	10	9	19	22
Alcohol beverages	11	5	5	2	9	4	5	2	10	4
Beers	6	1	4	1	1	0	4	1	8	1
Wine	5	4	1	1	8	3	1	1	2	3

1 Only food groups and food items, which contributed to more than 5% of the total lignan intake at least in one of the countries, are included.

The Dutch food database includes the lignan precursors; secoisolariciresinol (SECO), matairesinol (MAT), lariciresinol (LARI), and pinoresinol (PINO).

Appendix A. Content of lignan and lignan precursors (SECO, MAT, LARI, PINO) in foods and notes on which the lignan values were chosen

	Finnish (Fineli^®) database				Dutch database
	Total lignan ug/100g	SECO ug/100g	MAT ug/100g	Notes	Total lignan ug/100g	LARI ug/100g	PINO ug/100g	SECO ug/100g	MAT ug/100g	Notes
Cereal and grain products
Rye	95	40	55	Weighted mean (whole grain rye flour)	458	175	246	23	20	Ryebread x 1.43
Wheat	25	20	5	Weighted mean (wheat flour)	99	60	29	12	0	Wheatbread x 1.43
Oats and barley	18	13	5	Mean (rolled oats)	107	60	29	13	5	Estimate based on FINMAT&SECO and the proportions of new precursors
Rice	27.4	26.4	1	Mean of foods in the group of rice/rice containing foods	23.5	17.5	3.5	1.5	1	Mean of white rice and whole grain rice
Pasta and macaroni	14.5	11.6	2.9	Mean of all pastas	16	7	5	4	0	Cooked pasta
Other grains	16	15	1	Weighted mean (millet, corn, buckwheat)	485	157	313	15	0	Mean of 3 müslies
Crispbreads (as eaten)	52.4	27.4	25	Mean of foods in the food group, MAT-value weighted by rye crisp bread	412	156	221	21	18	Rye flour x 0.9
Biscuits (as eaten)	7.2	6.8	0.4	Mean of all foods in the group	18	9	4	5	0	White flour (taking into account the moisture)
Potatoes
Potato	3.2	2.0	1.2	Weighted mean (potato)	16	10	0	4	2	Potatoes (seco and matai estimates based on Fineli and proportions of new precursors)
Potato products	3.2	2.0	1.2	Weighted mean (french fries)	16	10	0	4	2	Potatoes
Vegetables
Root vegetables and tubers	17.5	16.6	0.9	Mean of root vegetables and tubers (excluding dried carrots)	88	31.5	9.5	47	0	Mean of carrot and red beet
Leafy vegetables	30.5	30	0.5	Weighted mean (lettuce)	57	35	12.5	9.5	0	Mean of spinach, chicory, endive, lettuce, Iceberg lettuce
Cabbages	30.5	30.3	0.2	Mean of the group	600	255	335	8	2	Weighted mean (most common cabbages)
Fruit vegetables	5.5	5.49	0.01	Weighted mean (tomato and cucumber)	132	103	19	10	0	Mean of sweet pepper, zucchini, cucumber and tomato
Onion-family vegetables	23.8	20	3.8	Mean, Seco-value weighted by onion	287	153	100	34	0	Mean of garlic, leek and onion
Canned vegetables	20	20.0	0.02	Mean of processed vegetables (excluding pickled pumpkin)	104	58.3	40.0	5.3	0	Mean of corn and pea
Edible fungi	6.0	2.4	3.7	Mean of the food group	0	0	0	0	0	Mushroom
Pulses and nuts
Pulses	4.5	4.4	0.1	Weighted mean (pea)	93	67	14	12	0	Estimate according to beans
Nuts and seeds	300	299	0.9	Weighted mean (almond, nuts)	287	8.2	25.3	253	0.5	Mean (nuts)
Soy products	30.5	30	0.5	Estimate according to major soy containing foods (soy flour, soy beans)	88.9	33.8	45.5	9.6	0	Mean of tofu and soy milk
Fruits
Citrus fruit	14.6	14.6	0.02	Mean of all citrus fruit	112	71	33	6	1.5	Mean of grape fruit, mandarine and orange
Malaceous and prunus species fruits	70.3	70	0.3	Mean of all malaceous and prunus species fruits	251	78	157	15.5	0	Mean of apricot, peach, pear, nectarine, prunes and apple
Other fruits	91.8	87.3	4.4	Mean of all other fruit	192	76.5	50	56	9.5	Mean of raisins, cherries, kiwi, olives, melons, grapes, pineapple and banana
Canned fruits	55.6	51.2	4.4	Mean of canned fruit	20	3	5	7	5	Canned pineapple
Berries	188	186	2.3	Mean of all berries	334	117	212	5	0	Strawberry
Juices	17	15	2	Weighted mean (orange juice)	18.1	5.4	4.1	6.7	1.9	Mean of grape, tomato, orange and grape fruit juices
Juice drinks	10.3	10	0.3	Weighted mean (berry juices)	35.5	3	1.5	30	1	Estimated according to Fineli berry juices and Milder et al. Berry values
Fats
Oils	0.7	0.6	0.1	Mean of oils	124	2.5	122	0	0	Mean of olive, soy and sunflower oils
Margarine and fat spread	0.01	0.01	0	Mean of margarines	39	7	0	32	0	Margarine
Beverages
Coffee	10	10	0	Estimate according to Milder et al. and Mazur et al.	25	11.1	0.95	12.7	0.35	Mean of three analyzed coffees
Tea	6	5	1	Calculated according to Mazur et al.	58.4	24.8	23.2	9.00	1.6	Mean of three black and one green teas
Soft drinks	1.3	1.3	0		0	0	0	0	0	Cola drink
Alcoholic beverages
Beers	1	1	0	Estimate according to Milder et al.	25.5	7.6	17.4	0.5	0	Mean of three lager bears
Wines	62.4	56.9	5.5	Mean of all foods in the group	55.7	10.4	6.8	33.3	5.3	Mean of three red and three white wines
Sugar and confectionery
Sugar and syrups	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0
Other sugar products	5.3	5	0.3	Estimate according to nutspread and licoridgesauce	0	0	0	0	0
Non-chocolate confectionery	19.9	19.0	0.8	Mean (excluding halva)	0	0	0	0	0
Chocolate	10.1	10	0.1	Weighted mean (milk chocolate and mean chocolate)	43	20	23	0	0	Dark chocolate
Spices
Dried herbs	297	295	1.5	Mean of all in the food group	0	0	0	0	0
Dried spices	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0
Condiments	27.9	27.7	0.3	Mean of all in the food group	0	0	0	0	0
Manufactured foods
Snacks	7.6	6.2	1.4	Mean of all in the food group	0	0	0	0	0
Chocolate powder	32.9	32.9	0	From the Fineli database	60	26	26	8	0	Cocoa powder

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