Dietary and nutritional patterns in an elderly rural population in northern and southern italy: (i). a cluster analysis of food consumption.

« OBJECTIVE: To describe the food consumption patterns of Italian elderly subjects and the factors associated with different dietary habits. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Population-based study. SUBJECTS: A total of 847 men and 1465 women aged 65 y or older, living in rural areas in the province of Pavia (Northern Italy) and near Cosenza (Southern Italy) in 1992-1993. INTERVENTIONS: The dietary information was collected by means of a quantitative food-frequency questionnaire, with cluster analysis being used to segregate the subjects on the basis of similarities in their food consumption. A generalised logistic regression model including residence, age, living status, education, physical activity and degree of disability was fitted to assess the factors associated with different food consumption habits. RESULTS: Six dietary clusters were selected for men and seven for women. The largest cluster for both genders was «  »small eaters » » (46% of men and 51% of women); «  »big eaters » », «  »light diet » » and «  »alcohol » » clusters were also identified for both genders. The men were also grouped into «  »balanced diet » » and «  »cheese » » clusters, and the women into «  »sweet » », «  »greens » » and «  »butter » » clusters. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the influence of the area of residence–residents in Northern Italy consume greater amounts of animal fats, sugar and alcoholic beverages, and those living in Southern Italy have a greater intake of fruit, vegetables, fish and olive oil–all of the other studied variables predicted the probabilities of falling into a specific dietary cluster. SPONSORSHIP: National Research Council (Italy)–Invecchiamento Project No. 95.01048. PF40. »