Association of Acculturation Factors with Dietary Intakes of Folate Among Older Mexican Americans in the Post-Fortification Era: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001–2006

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that acculturation factors are associated with dietary patterns of older Mexican Americans (MAs), but the association of these factors with post-fortification folate intake is unknown. We estimated usual folate intakes for U.S. MAs aged ≥60 years (N = 712) by acculturation factors using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2006. Mean total folic acid and total folate, but not natural folate intakes, were lower for MAs with lower acculturation factors, and 16% of MAs had total folate intakes less than the estimated average requirement (EAR) of 320 µg/day. Most older U.S. MAs did not meet requirements from natural food folate intake alone, regardless of acculturation status, but their intakes were adequate when fortified foods and supplement sources were taken into account. Logistic regression models including age, sex, education, poverty, and acculturation factors indicated that low income, not acculturation, was significantly associated with intake below the EAR. Thus our findings indicate that the association of low acculturation with folate intake below the EAR is not independent of poverty. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics for the following free supplemental resource: a table of the distribution of usual folate intake among Mexican Americans aged ≥60 years by sex, age, education level, poverty income ratio, and acculturation factors, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2006.]