Evaluation of food intake based on a "Healthy Eating Index" (HEI-EPIC)

This analysis is based on FFQ-dietary data from 5 465 elderly participants in the EPIC-Potsdam-study. The intake and the number of consumed portions of 8 food groups were calculated. A Healthy Eating Index (HEI-EPIC) was generated with the food groups as components. The HEI-EPIC compares the consumed portions of the 8 food groups with national recommendations, in order to evaluate the quality of nutrition as "good", "needs improvement" or "poor". The diet quality of 26% of the participants was evaluated as "good", whereas 72% were classified as "needs improvement" and 2% as "poor". The mean HEI-EPIC score was 59.8 for women and 54.9 for men. The best scores were achieved for fruit. Subjects were most likely to do poorly in the vegetable category and in the meat, sausages, fish and egg category. The HEI-EPIC seems to be an appropriate toot for assessment of the nutritional quality of the diet.