Adherence to the EAT-Lancet Recommendations in a Sample of Mexican Health Workers

Abstract

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the adherence to the EAT-Lancet recommendations in a sample of Mexican health workers. Methods We used data on 1908 men and women aged 19 to 59 who participated in the third wave of the Health Workers Cohort Study (HWCS), carried out in 2016. Dietary intake was estimated by using a 116-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. To evaluate the adherence to EAT, we adapted the EAT-Lancet score proposed by Knuppel et al. We used 13 out of 14 EAT-Lancet score components: 1) whole grains, 2) tubers and starchy vegetables, 3) vegetables, 4) fruits, 5) whole milk or derivative equivalents (dairy) , 6) beef, lamb and pork, 7) chicken and other poultry, 8) eggs, 9) fish, 10) dry beans, lentils and peas (legumes), 11) peanuts and tree nuts, and 12) added fats. We additionally created the component of processed meats, where the recommendation is zero consumption. Participants were assigned a point for meeting each of the recommendations, resulting in a range of scores from 0 (nonadherence) to 13 (perfect adherence). We calculated the median and interquartile range (IQR) for the total adapted EAT-Lancet score. Also, we estimated the percentage of participants achieving each one of the EAT-Lancet recommendations. Results More than 90% of participants met the recommendations for fruits [95.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 93.6–96.2%], fish (97.5%, 95% CI: 96.4–98.3%), dairy(95.4%, 95% CI: 93.9–96.4%) and legumes (96.3%, 95% CI: 95.1–97.3%). The lowest adherences were observed for whole grains (9.38%, 95% CI: 7.8–11.2%), process meat (4.1%, 95% CI: 3.1–5.5%) and, the peanuts or tree nuts group (6.9%, 95% CI: 5.6–8.6%). As a result, the median of total adapted EAT-Lancet score was 8.0 (IQR: 8.0–9.0) and only 9.18% of individuals had an adherence > = 10 to the EAT-Lancet recommendations. Conclusions Mexican workers achieved the recommendations for fruits, eggs, fish, whole milk, dry beans, and fats, suggesting that only a subset of recommendations may fit the Mexican diet. Important diet changes should be promoted in Mexico in order to improve the adherence to the EAT-Lancet recommendations. Funding Sources This project was partially funded by CONACYT (grants nos. M-7876, etc, etc), the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (grants nos. 2005–785-012), and Bloomberg Philanthropy.