Abstract
To characterise different meal types by examining the contribution of specific meals to the total intakes and the nutritional quality of each meal. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted based on dietary data collected using 4-d dietary record. Diet quality was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9.3. Japan. Adults aged 20-81 years (n 639). Diet quality was, on average, highest for dinner, followed, in order, by lunch, breakfast and snacks. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, on average, accounted for 21 %, 32 %, 40 % and 11 % of total energy intake, respectively. For many nutrients, the percentage contribution to total intake did not vary within each meal, broadly in line with that for energy: 18-24 % for breakfast, 26-35 % for lunch, 35-49 % for dinner and 4-15 % for snacks. However, intakes of many foods largely depended on one meal type. The foods mainly eaten at dinner were potatoes, pulses, total vegetables, fish, meat and alcoholic beverages (52-70 %), in contrast to noodles (58 %) at lunch and bread (71 %) and dairy products (50 %) at breakfast. The foods mainly eaten at snacks were confectioneries (79 %) and sugar-sweetened beverages (52 %). Conversely, rice and eggs were more evenly distributed across three main meals (19-41 % and 30-38 %, respectively), while fruit and non-energetic beverages were more evenly distributed across all meal types (17-30 % and 19-35 %, respectively). These findings provide the background information on each meal type in Japanese and may help inform the development of meal-based guidelines and public health messages.
Highlights
Our recent analysis based on the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Survey supports the efficacy of these measures in assessing the overall diet quality of Japanese: a higher total score in the HEI-2015 and NRF9.3 was associated with favourable patterns of overall diet, including higher intakes of dietary fibre and key vitamins and minerals and lower intakes of saturated fats, added sugars and Na[18]
In this study of Japanese adults, diet quality, which was assessed by the HEI-2015 and NRF9.3, was highest for dinner, followed by lunch, breakfast and snacks
The order was in line with the percentage contribution of each meal type to total energy intake (EI) and intakes of many nutrients
Summary
In the present cross-sectional study, we characterised breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in the Japanese context, by examining how each meal contributes to intakes of foods and nutrients, as well as the nutritional quality of each meal. We calculated the NRF9.3 component and total scores based on the overall daily intake of each nutrient for each participant, which was adjusted for EI by the density method and normalised for the sexand age-specific Estimated Energy Requirement for a moderate level of physical activity (from the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese, 2015(43)) and expressed as a percentage of the reference daily values[32].
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