Research on Food Habits and Aging in Différent Cultures in Europe: An Exploration

The ultimate goal of research on "better nutrition and aging" is to improve quality of life for the elderly. Quality of life is a personal matter and dépends on the various ways in which people live in différent cultures, climates, and under différent socioeconomic conditions. Quality of life, however, as far as food and nutrition in the elderly are concerned, also means improving or maintaining health with good nutrition and enjoyable meals. Studies on dietary habits of older populations in various cultures and their health status may provide insight in which factors might be involved in the relation between nutrition and quality of life in the elderly. The European community (EC) concerted action on nutrition and health initiated a study in elderly people in Europe on food habits, aspects of lifestyle, and health because of the great variety of existing food patterns, environmental factors, and médical characteristics in people in différent European countries and sometimes also within thèse countries (1). This chapter concentrâtes on problems we encountered in assessing cross-cultural food habits—the sélection of a method, the development of a questionnaire, treatment of data, including conversion into energy and nutrients, and what thèse problems mean for the interprétation of some results.