Adherence to and knowledge about the Atlantic Diet pattern in the senior population of the Galician region (NW-Spain)

Abstract

• The degree of adherence of the senior population to Atlantic Diet is medium–high. • Surveyed do not comply with the consumption of nuts, wine and fish and seafood. • Surveyed comply with the consumption of dairy products and the use of olive oil. • The degree of knowledge of the Atlantic Diet is medium. • The least known characteristics are the nuts and game meat consumption. The Atlantic Diet (AD) is the traditional diet in Galicia (NW-Spain) and northern Portugal. A thirteen-item questionnaire was developed to assess the degree of adherence to the AD pattern of Galician senior population. Another questionnaire was designed to determine the degree of knowledge about AD. The adherence to the AD was medium–high. The consumption of nuts, wine, and fish and seafood were the AD characteristics complied with to a lesser extent by senior population. Only 15.4% of the respondents claimed to eat at least 4 servings / week of nuts, only 24.5% consumed 1 (females) or 2 (males) glasses of wine / day and only 35.0% consumed more than 3 servings / week of fish and seafood. On the opposite side was the daily consumption of dairy products and olive oil by more than 90.0% of them. The consumption of nuts and game meat were the least well-known AD characteristics.