|
Ecohost coordinators:
Joceline Pomerleau, Martin McKee
In 1996, WHO facilitated
the Baltic Project, funded by the Luxembourg Government, to support
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to carry out their first cross-sectional
surveys of nutrition and lifestyle behaviours, using a common methodology.
The final report
for this project, Nutrition and
lifestyle in the Baltic Republics, is now available.
Backgound of
the project:
- The wide gap
in life expectancy observed between Western European countries and
countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CCEE) and Newly Independent
States (NIS) is mainly due to differences in premature mortality from
cardiovascular diseases.
- While improvements
in dietary patterns have contributed to the reduction in cardiovascular
mortality in Western countries, the dietary habits of the populations
of some CCEE and NIS countries remain less favourable.
- Information on
food availability and dietary patterns in the Baltic Republics is
limited. This information is essential for the development of food
policies and health promotion strategies designed to ensure sufficient
food supply, improve wellbeing and reduce mortality.
- The main objective
of the Baltic Nutrition Surveys was to provide national representative
information on of food security, dietary intake, nutritional beliefs,
obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical activity.
Results:
- Fat intake was
high in all three countries while the mean daily consumption of fruits
and vegetables was lower than recommended. Complete dependence on
home grown foods was twice as high in Lithuania as in Latvia and Estonia.
- 13% of the respondents
were obese and almost half were overweight. Between-country variations
in the prevalence of obesity were particularly large in women.
- Half the respondents
participated only in sedentary physical activities during their leisure
time. More than half the male respondents smoked cigarette. Women
from Estonia were more than twice as likely as other women to smoke
regularly. The proportion of heavy alcohol drinkers was higher in
Estonia than in Latvia or Lithuania in men of all age groups.
Conclusions:
- The surveys showed
important variations in dietary patterns and lifestyle behaviours
among the Baltic countries, and have highlighted areas where further
development of national nutrition policies and health promotion campaigns
are most required.
- Information from
the surveys could also be used as baseline data against which future
dietary consumption patterns would be compared.
Key publications:
- Baltic Nutrition
and Health Surveys: a summary report. LSHTM
- Patterns
of smoking in the Baltic Republics.
Pudule I, Grinberga D, Kadziauskiene J, Abaravicius A, Vaask
S, Robertson A, McKee M.
J Epidemiol Comm Health 1999; 53: 277-83. - Alcohol
consumption in the Baltic Republics.
McKee M, Pomerleau J, Robertson A, Pudule I,
Grinberga D, Kadziauskiene K, Abaravicius A, Vaask S.
J Epidemiol Comm Health 2000; 54: 361-366 [PubMed]
- Patterns
of body weight in the Baltic Republics.
Pomerleau J, Pudule I, Grinberga D, Kadziauskiene K,
Abaravicius A, Bartkeviciute R, Vaask S, Robertson A, McKee
M.
Publ Health Nutr 2000; 3: 3-10 [PubMed]
- Dietary
beliefs in the Baltic Republics.
Pomerleau J, McKee M, Robertson A, Kadziauskiene
K, Abaravicius A, Bartkeviciute R, Vaask S, Pudule I, Grinberga
D.
Public Health Nutrition 2001; 4: 217-25. [PubMed - Macronutrient
and food intake in the Baltic Republics.
Pomerleau J, McKee M, Robertson A, Kadziauskiene
K, Abaravicius A, Vaask S, Pudule I, Grinberga D.
Eur J Clin Nutr 2001; 55: 200-207. [PubMed]
|
