Snacks Consumed by an Urban African American and White Population

Abstract

The use of combination codes in dietary analyses has been shown to be essential to accurately estimate energy density of beverages and sodium content of sandwiches, a reported snack food. Previous research with participants from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study exemplified the importance of using combination codes to picture how foods are typically consumed at mealtimes. The HANDLS study, a prospective study of urban African American and White adults (n=2177), was used to illustrate differences in snacking patterns by race with inclusion of combination codes in analyses. Two 24‐hour recalls were collected using United States Department of Agriculture's Automated Multiple Pass Method, which assigns combination codes to foods eaten simultaneously. Duplicate analyses were performed on two datasets. The Original Dataset consisted of all snacks reported and coded as individual items. The Revised Dataset was derived from the Original Dataset by isolating snacks consumed simultaneously and aggregating these foods, assigning a new code and food group based on the main food component. The study findings revealed that the top snack food group for African Americans and Whites was grain‐based desserts when the Original Dataset was used. However, when the Revised Dataset was used, the top snack food group for African Americans was salty snacks while for Whites, it was still grain‐based desserts. This study illustrated the importance of using combination codes to accurately depict snacks consumed by an urban population of African Americans and Whites.