Dietary Fiber Intake among Normal-Weight and Overweight Female Health Care Workers: An Exploratory Nested Case-Control Study within FINALE-Health

Socioeconomic factors affect choice of diet,that is,dietary fiber intake. underreporting of food consumption in diet surveys has been reported higher in low-income,low-education groups compared to high-income,high-education groups. this paper examines in a socioeconomic homogenous low-income low-education group of females the relation between dietary fiber intake and overweight and scrutinizes if the level of underreporting is equally large in normal-weight and overweight groups. thirty-four female health care workers classified as either normal-weight (n=18) or obese (n=16) based on bmi,fat percentage,and waist circumference participated. a detailed food-diary was used to record their dietary intake in 9 days. average dietary fiber intake in the normal-weight group was 2.73 +/- 0.65 g/mj,while it was 2.15 +/- 0.64 g/mj for the women in the obese group. in both groups,the overall food intake was underreported. in spite of a significantly lower dietary fiber intake in the obese group,the present population of women working within health care all showed an overall low dietary fiber intake and a general underreporting of food intake. these results indicate a clear need for dietary advice especially on fiber intake to increase general health and decrease weight. © 2017 jenny hadrévi et al.