Background/Aims: Comparison of dietary patterns between populations can help to explore the relationships between food habits, factors that affect them, nutritional related diseases and future food security. This study aimed to compare the food intake of adults in Brazil and New Zealand.
Methods: Data was obtained primarily from the 2008-9 Brazilian Household Budget Survey, individual food intake and the 2008-9 NZ Adult Nutrition Survey. Food and beverages were combined into 21 food categories and the percent of total energy contributed by each food group was calculated and compared between countries.
Results: The contribution of different food categories to energy intake differed between Brazilian and New Zealand adults. The top 5 categories contributing to energy intake for Brazilians were rice pasta and grains; non-alcoholic beverages; beef; legumes and breads while for New Zealanders, they were legumes; sweets and confectionary; breads; rice pasta and grains and non-alcoholic beverages. From an energy perspective, Brazilians ate three times more beef and twice the rice, pasta and grains but only one quarter of the eggs and one seventh of the sweets and confectionaries than NZ adults ate. Although New Zealand adults drink more milk than Brazilians, the contribution of other dairy products to calorie intake is similar in both countries.
Conclusions: Different dietary patterns are seen in New Zealand and Brazil. Many factors including income and climate affect this. The comparison suggests the growing levels of obesity in these countries may have different dietary causes and require different strategies to limit the increase.
Funding source: N/A