Food Consumption Frequency and Eating Habit among Taiwanese-NAHSIT 1993-1996

Besides using twenty four-hour dietary recall combined with household recipes interviewing method to evaluate nutrient intakes, a food frequency questionnaire was used to evaluate the usual food consumption frequency of Taiwanese. The age of studied subjects was 13 years old and above. The average daily vegetable, fruit, protein food group and milk consumption frequencies were about 2.5 times, less than once, 2.4 to 3.7 times and less than once, respectively. The consumption frequency of above mentioned foods increased with the degree of urbanization. Males had higher tea drinking frequency than females. The same phenomenon was found for betel nut consumption. People living in mountainous and east coast area had the highest consumption frequency of betel nut. Teenagers had higher fried food and sweetened beverage consumption frequency compared with other age groups. Variations in staple food for breakfast were found from the results of the survey. The percentage of consuming cakes and breads for breakfast decreased with age. The percentage of vegetarians was higher in females than in males. Most male vegetarians were lacto-ovo vegetarians. The results showed that eating habits might be affected by food availability. Although teenagers had the highest milk consumption frequency, it did not meet the recommendation of national Daily Food Guide. The high consumption frequency of high fat food and sweetened beverage among teenagers requires close attention. The adequacy of being vegetarian during growing period needs further evaluation.