Preventive Nutrition Issues in Ethnic and Socioeconomic Groups in the United States

The social epidemiology of dietary risk factors becomes an increasingly important focus of comparisons across populations or demographic groups with different disease patterns.

Abstract

Comparisons of dietary patterns across populations or demographic groups with different disease patterns have provided numerous insights about diet as it relates to disease (1–4) . Now that there is substantial consensus about the specific aspects of an optimal diet (5) , the social epidemiology of dietary risk factors, within and across populations, becomes an increasingly important focus of such comparisons: How do dietary intakes of various populations adhere to or deviate from guidelines for healthful eating patterns? What factors are influencing current dietary patterns and dietary changes over time? Are there populations or subgroups where improvements in dietary profiles are occurring, or where new patterns of diet-related diseases are emerging?