Dietary differences between elderly Iranians living in Sweden and Iran a cross-sectional comparative study

Afsaneh Koochek,Kristina Sundquist,Firoozeh Hosseini,Ali S Moeini,Sven-Erik Johansson,Fereidoun Azizi,Tohid Azizi,Brita Karlström,Jan Sundquist,Parvin Mirmiran

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-411

Abstract

BackgroundDuring the last decades, global migration has increased and many immigrant groups have a higher prevalence than the native born population of several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including poor dietary habits. However, it is uncertain if dietary habits in immigrant populations reflect dietary habits in their country of origin or if the current diet is a consequence of the migration and possible change of dietary habits. The aim of this study was to examine possible dietary differences between elderly Iranians living in Stockholm, Sweden with elderly Iranians living in Tehran, Iran, taking into account sex, age, marital status, and education.MethodsDietary intakes were assessed by semi - quantitative food frequency questionnaire in a cross-sectional study of 121 Iranians living in Stockholm and 52 Iranians living in Tehran, aged 60-80. Differences in dietary habits between the two groups was analysed by bootstrapped regression analyses with 1000 replications.ResultsIranians living in Sweden had significantly higher intake of protein, total fat, fiber than Iranians living in Iran, but lower consumption of carbohydrates. The observed differences in intake of macronutrients were reflected in consumed amount of all food items, which were higher among Iranians living in Iran with the exception of bread and grain consumption which was lower.ConclusionsThere are general differences in dietary habits between Iranians living in Iran and Iranians living in Sweden. Parts of observed differences in dietary habits may reflect a favourable adoption process to the Swedish dietary habits after migration. Meanwhile other differences are point of concern in light of the high prevalence of overweight, among Iranians living in Sweden and can have unfavourable impact in particular in the context of cardiovascular health.

Highlights

During the last decades, global migration has increased and many immigrant groups have a higher prevalence than the native born population of several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including poor dietary habits
The world-wide obesity epidemic is alarming because it is strongly associated with dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, the metabolic syndrome,[1] low-grade inflammation [2,3], and diabetes [1], that are important for the development of arteriosclerosis [1,2,3], and subsequently cardiovascular disease (CVD), one of the main causes of death in both industrialized and developing countries
Iranians living in Iran The reference group consisted of 52 Iranians aged 60-80, within the framework of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS), a prospective study performed on residents of district 13 of Tehran with the aim of determining the prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors and developing a healthy lifestyle to improve these risk factors [14]

Summary

Introduction

Global migration has increased and many immigrant groups have a higher prevalence than the native born population of several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including poor dietary habits. It is uncertain if dietary habits in immigrant populations reflect dietary habits in their country of origin or if the current diet is a consequence of the migration and possible change of dietary habits. A recent study revealed that mean body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of obesity appear to During the last decades, global migration has increased and many immigrant groups have a higher prevalence than the native born population of several CVD risk factors, including poor dietary habits [6,7,8]. As many as 80 percent of elderly Iranian women in both Sweden and Iran have abdominal obesity [12]

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