Employment status and temporal patterns of energy intake: Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan, 2005–2008

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 20; no. 18; pp. 3295 - 3303
• Main Authors: Chau, Chun-An, Pan, Wen-Harn, Chen, Hsin-Jen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2017
• Subjects: Adult; adults; Aged; Body Mass Index; Breakfast; calcium; cluster analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dietary Carbohydrates - administration & dosage; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dietary Fiber - administration & dosage; Dietary Proteins - administration & dosage; Employment; Energy Intake; Feeding Behavior; Female; health surveys; homemakers; Humans; Lunch; Male; Micronutrients - administration & dosage; Middle Aged; Nutrition Assessment; Nutrition Surveys; nutritional adequacy; Nutritional Epidemiology; polyunsaturated fatty acids; regression analysis; Research Papers; Snacks; students; Taiwan; vitamin D; vitamin E; Young Adult; Taiwan; Cluster analysis; Meal timing; Nutrition surveys; Feeding behaviour; Dietary pattern
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980017002476

To (i) identify the major temporal patterns of energy intake among adults; (ii) examine the association between employment status and the patterns; and (iii) examine the association between dietary quality and the patterns. Secondary analysis based on the cross-sectional population-based nutrition survey in Taiwan, 2005-2008. Based on energy intake levels at six time intervals of a day derived from 24 h recall data, we applied cluster analysis to identify major temporal patterns of energy intake. Self-reported employment status was categorized into six groups: full-time, part-time, no job, student, homemaker and retired. Multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to test the association between temporal patterns of energy intake and employment groups. Non-institutionalized community dwellers. Non-pregnant adults (≥19 years old) with total energy intake between 2092 and 20920 kJ/d (500 and 5000 kcal/d; n 4508). Five major patterns were identified, which can be seen as the traditional meal pattern and its variants. About 20 % of adults had the traditional pattern. The most prevalent pattern was the delayed morning meal pattern (33 %), which had lower Ca and P intakes than the traditional pattern. About 14 % of adults had the delayed lunchtime pattern, which had lower protein, PUFA, fibre, Ca, P, vitamin D and vitamin E intakes than the traditional. Adjusted prevalence of the delayed lunchtime pattern was highest among full-time students (34 %), followed by part-time workers (24 %), and was lower in retired (8 %), homemakers (11 %) and full-time employed adults (12 %). Adults' temporal patterns of energy intake, which varied with their employment status, affected their dietary quality.