Projects per year
Abstract
Objectives: Socioeconomic differences in fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption are recognized, but little is known about how these differences develop when moving from mid-life to older adulthood. We investigated the longitudinal changes in socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption in an ageing Finnish cohort, using occupational class as a measure of socioeconomic position. Additionally, we examined whether socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption changed over retirement transition. Design: An observational longitudinal cohort study with a 15–17-year follow-up. Setting and participants: The survey data used in this study were collected in four phases: 2000-02, 2007, 2012 and 2017. We included 2719 women who were 40–60-year-old in Phase 1. All participants transitioned to statutory retirement during the follow-up. Measurements: F&V consumption was measured in each phase as a part of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and determined by the number of F&V consumption times per 4 weeks. We used linear mixed modeling for the analyses, and used age, marital status, education, income and BMI as covariates. Results: We found marked differences between occupational classes in F&V consumption. Semi-professionals used F&V most often and manual workers least often. In Phase 1, semi-professionals had 14.5 consumption times more per 4 weeks than manual workers, which is equivalent to ca. 0.5 daily consumption times. Differences between occupational classes showed a transient decrease in the beginning of the follow-up, followed by an increasing trend towards the last study phase. However, these changes were modest and overall differences between occupational classes changed only little over the follow-up period. Retirement did not markedly contribute to occupational class differences in F&V consumption. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the socioeconomic differences in F&V consumption seen in mid-life persist in older adulthood and over retirement transition. The results imply that means to reduce socioeconomic differences in F&V use should be actively sought to support healthy ageing and reduce socioeconomic health differences in ageing populations. Workplace could be a fruitful ground for targeting these interventions.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 100425 |
Journal | Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 1 |
Number of pages | 8 |
ISSN | 1279-7707 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2025 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Authors
Fields of Science
- Ageing
- Longitudinal study
- Nutrition
- Population health
- Socioeconomic disparities
- 3121 General medicine, internal medicine and other clinical medicine
- 3143 Nutrition
Projects
- 1 Active
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Helsinki Health Study
Lallukka, T. (Principal Investigator), Kouvonen, A. (Co-Principal Investigator), Rahkonen, O. (Project manager), Lahelma, E. (Participant), Lahti, J. (Participant), Harkko, J. (Participant), Heinonen, N. A. (Participant), Hiilamo, A. J. (Participant), Kanerva, N. (Participant), Karjala, A. K. (Participant), Martikainen, P. (CoIlaborator), Mauramo, E. (Participant), Mänty, M. (Participant), Pekkala, J. (Participant), Pietiläinen, O. (Participant), Piha, K. (Participant), Roos, E. (Participant), Nordquist, H. (Participant), Salmela, J. H. (Participant), Salonsalmi, A. (Participant), Silventoinen, K. (CoIlaborator), Suur-Uski, J. (Participant), Svärd, A. (Participant), Kivimäki, M. (CoIlaborator), Marmot, M. (CoIlaborator), Sekine, M. (CoIlaborator), Blomgren, J. (Other), Karvonen, S. (Other), Laaksonen, M. (Other), Leino-Arjas, P. (Other), Etholén, A. J. (Participant), Vähäsarja, L. E. J. (Participant) & Päivärinne, V. (Participant)
01/01/2000 → …
Project: Research project