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Are energy dense diets also nutrient dense?
Theresa A Nicklas1, Carol E O'Neil, Jason Mendoza
1Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030-2600, USA. tnicklas@bcm.tmc.edu
Journal of the American College of Nutrition
|October 11, 2008
Summary
Including energy-containing beverages in nutrient density calculations significantly alters the energy-nutrient association. This impacts dietary assessment, highlighting the importance of beverage inclusion for accurate nutritional analysis.
Area of Science:
- Nutrition Science
- Dietary Assessment
- Public Health
Background:
- Nutrient-dense beverages are often excluded from dietary calculations.
- This exclusion can skew the assessment of overall diet quality.
- Understanding the impact of beverage inclusion is crucial for accurate nutritional analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine how including beverages in nutrient density calculations affects the energy-nutrient association.
- To assess the impact of different beverage inclusion methods on dietary quality assessment.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study design with 24-hour dietary recalls from 440 young adults.
- Compared nutrient intakes and food group consumption using two energy density (ED) calculation methods: ED1 (food + all beverages excluding water) and ED2 (food + energy-containing beverages).
- Utilized regression models and Tukey-Kramer procedure for statistical analysis (p < 0.05 considered significant).
Main Results:
- Increasing energy density correlated with higher meat intake and decreased fruit, vegetable, and sweet consumption.
- Including energy-containing beverages (ED2) significantly increased protein and fat intake percentages.
- Excluding non-energy beverages altered the association between energy density and nutrient/food group intake.
Conclusions:
- Energy density's influence on diet quality is dependent on the inclusion or exclusion of energy-containing beverages.
- Current nutrient density calculations may misrepresent dietary quality due to beverage exclusion.
- Recommendations for dietary assessment should consider the inclusion of energy-containing beverages.
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