Abstract
Objectives:
To assess the contribution of out-of-home (OH) energy and nutrient intake to total dietary intake, and to compare out- versus in-home nutrient patterns among 27 centres in 10 countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.
Methods:
Between 1995 and 2000, 36 034 participants aged between 35–74 years completed a standardized 24-h dietary recall using a software programme (EPIC-Soft) that recorded the place of food/drink consumption. Eating OH was defined as the consumption of foods and beverages anywhere other than in household premises, irrespective of the place of purchase/preparation. Nutrient intakes were estimated using a standardized nutrient database. Mean intakes were adjusted for age and weighted by season and day of recall.
Results:
Among women, OH eating contributed more to total fat intake than to intakes of protein and carbohydrates. Among both genders, and particularly in southern Europe, OH eating contributed more to sugar and starch intakes and less to total fibre intake. The contribution of OH eating was also lower for calcium and vitamin C intakes. The composition of diet at home was different from that consumed out of home in southern countries, but was relatively similar in the north.
Conclusions:
In northern Europe, OH and in-home eating are homogeneous, whereas southern Europeans consider OH eating as a distinctive occasion. In most centres, women selected more fat-rich items when eating out.
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Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was carried out with the financial support of the European Commission: Public Health and Consumer Protection Directorate 1993–2004; Research Directorate-General 2005; Ligue contre le Cancer (France); Société 3M (France); Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM); Institut Gustave Roussy; German Cancer Aid; German Cancer Research Center; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Danish Cancer Society; Health Research Fund (FIS) of the Spanish Ministry of Health; Spanish Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra and the Catalan Institute of Oncology; and ISCIII RETIC (RD06/0020), Spain; Cancer Research UK; Medical Research Council, UK; the Stroke Association, UK; British Heart Foundation; Department of Health, UK; Food Standards Agency, UK; the Wellcome Trust, UK; Greek Ministry of Health; Hellenic Health Foundation; Italian Association for Research on Cancer; Italian National Research Council, Regione Sicilia (Sicilian government); Associazione Iblea per la Ricerca Epidemiologica—ONLUS (Hyblean association for epidemiological research, NPO); Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport; Dutch Prevention Funds; LK Research Funds; Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland); World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF); Swedish Cancer Society; Swedish Research Council; Regional Government of Skane and the County Council of Vasterbotten, Sweden; Norwegian Cancer Society; the Norwegian Research Council and the Norwegian Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation. We thank Sarah Somerville, Nicole Suty and Karima Abdedayem for their assistance with editing and Kimberley Bouckaert and Heinz Freisling for technical assistance.
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Guarantor: A Trichopoulou.Contributors: PO was the coordinator for the analyses conducted in this paper and for drafting the article. NS was the overall coordinator of this project and of the EPIC nutritional databases (ENDB) project. AN, AT, SG, JMA-B, MvB and UE, as members of the working group on ‘Eating out and nutrient intakes’, gave input on statistical analyses, interpretation of results and drafting of the article. The other co-authors were local EPIC collaborators involved in data collection and documentation and in compiling and evaluating the subset of their national nutrient databases used in the ENDB. ER is the overall coordinator of the EPIC study. All co-authors provided comments and suggestions on the article and approved the final version.
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Orfanos, P., Naska, A., Trichopoulou, A. et al. Eating out of home: energy, macro- and micronutrient intakes in 10 European countries. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Eur J Clin Nutr 63 (Suppl 4), S239–S262 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2009.84
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2009.84
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