Poor quality diet is associated with increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, many forms of cancer and mental illness. Poor quality diet is the top contributor to mortality globally, and is estimated to cost the NHS £6billion per year.
The period of adolescence to early adulthood (age 13 to 30) is the time when prevalence of overweight and obesity develops most rapidly, making this an important time to understand the contribution of diet to these developing risk factors. Adolescence and early adulthood is a time of rapid personal development, changing lifestyles, and is the time when adult behaviours, including adult dietary patterns, are developed and established. Understanding the factors that influence development of diet is an important first step in developing strategies to change behaviour.
There is limited data available on changes in diet through adolescence and early adulthood in the UK. Self-reported diet data is notoriously biased, however recent advances in biomarker research have established several biomarkers that are reliable indicators of consumption of specific foods and food groups. In this project we will analyse blood samples from the ALSPAC cohort, taken at age 13, 15, 17, 24 and 30, to derive measures of intake of fruit and vegetable, dairy and fish intake.
We will use these measures of diet to assess (1) changes in diet across adolescence and early adulthood, (2) associations between socioeconomic changes in adolescence and early adulthood and changes in diet, (3) the role of changes in diet in pathways linking socioeconomic determinants and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.