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Comparison of Meal Patterns Across Common Racial Groups in the UK and the USA, Examining Associations with Weight Status and Diet Quality: a Secondary Analysis of NDNS and NHANES Datasets

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Abstract

Objective

Understanding diets of population subgroups is essential for monitoring health of diversifying populations, but currently, meal patterns of many population subgroups are not widely known. This paper aimed to identify meal patterns of racial groups in the UK and USA, considering if racial groups exhibit similar patterns of intake irrespective of location and relationships between meal patterns and health parameters.

Design

Data were extracted from the UK (National Diet and Nutrition Survey) and the USA (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) national dietary surveys. Temporal and content meal patterns among racial groups in the UK and USA (White, Black, Asian and Other, n = 1780 and n = 4339, respectively) were examined. Kruskal–Wallis tests were applied to understand differences across groups. Logistic regression models identified associations between meal patterns and body mass index and diet quality.

Results

Black groups consumed fewer eating occasions than White and Other groups in both countries, while UK racial groups consumed significantly more snacks than USA groups. Food group contribution to eating occasion consumption was similar across countries where Asian groups in the USA and UK had the lowest meat intake at lunch and dinner. Meal frequency was positively associated with diet quality.

Conclusions

Overall, meal patterns differ across racial groups within a single country, and some differences were observed within groups of the same race across countries. Learnings from this research highlight the differences in consumption patterns across racial groups and the importance of considering a meal-based approach to dietary guidelines by racial group.

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Data Availability

NDNS data is accessible through the UK data service. University of Cambridge, NatCen Social Research. National Diet and Nutrition Survey. [data series]. 7th Release. UK Data Service, 2019 [Accessed December 2023]. Available from: DOI: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-Series-2000033. NHANES data is freely downloadable from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics website. CDC. 2017-2018 Dietary Data - Continuous NHANES. National Center for Health Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Accessed December 2023]. Available from: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/search/datapage.aspx?Component=Dietary&CycleBeginYear=2017.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Food Nutrition Security Cloud. Food Nutrition Security Cloud (FNS Cloud) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (H2020-EU.3.2.2.3. — A sustainable and competitive agri-food industry) under Grant Agreement No. 863059 — http://www.fns-cloud.eu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    G. Bennett, C. O’Hara & E. R. Gibney

  2. School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    G. Bennett, C. O’Hara & E. R. Gibney

  3. Insight Centre for Data Analytics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    C. O’Hara & E. R. Gibney

  4. Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK

    L. A. Bardon

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Contributions

G.B. contributed to the conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data and writing of the manuscript. C.O.H. critically analysed the manuscript for scientific content. L.A.B. contributed to the concept and design of the study and critically analysed the manuscript for scientific content. E.R.G. contributed to the conception and design of the study, interpretation of data and critically analysed the manuscript for scientific content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript before publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. R. Gibney.

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Ethics Approval

This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki, and all procedures involving research study participants were approved by the National Health Service Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee East of England Cambridgeshire South (approval number 13/EE/0016 (NDNS data) and the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Committee (approval number #2011–17 and #2018–01) (NHANES data). Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Ethical approval for this secondary analysis of NDNS and NHANES data was granted by the UCD Research Ethics Committee in May 2023 (S-LRSD-23–98-Bennett-Gibney).

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from all participants by NDNS and NHANES researchers prior to data collection. At this time, participants consented to their data being used for external analysis (once anonymised).

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Participants signed informed consent regarding publishing their data once anonymised.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bennett, G., O’Hara, C., Bardon, L.A. et al. Comparison of Meal Patterns Across Common Racial Groups in the UK and the USA, Examining Associations with Weight Status and Diet Quality: a Secondary Analysis of NDNS and NHANES Datasets. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01890-1

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