An Analysis of Food Consumption Patterns of the Elderly from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-l)

摘要

The purpose of this study was to identify food consumption patterns of the elderly and factors affecting them to improve their dietary health. Data from 1,172 elderly subjects (over 65 years old) from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-l) were used in our analysis. Validity and reliability analyses of food consumption frequency allowed the identification of seven factors: fruits, foods for Korean style meal, instant foods, alcohols, carbohydrate-rich snacks, vegetables, and legumes/mixed grains. Food consumption patterns were classified into four groups (according to the food consumption frequency) using cluster analysis. Cluster 4 showed a significantly higher food consumption frequency and Cluster 3 had a relatively high overall food consumption frequency but lower alcohol consumption frequency compared to the other clusters. Cluster 2 was characterized by a generally low food consumption frequency but a significantly higher alcohol consumption frequency.Cluster 1 showed a generally low food consumption frequency; however, the consumption frequency of legumes/mixed grains was higher than Cluster 2. Further analysis showed that the food consumption patterns of the elderly were affected by variables such as gender, age, town, economic status, education level, family type, and frequency of eating out. We conclude that a proper nutritional education program should be conducted to address specific dietary problems for each elderly segment.