(P29-030-23) Sex and Age Group Differences in Dietary Fibre Intake and Sources in Teenagers Living in Ireland: Findings From the Irish National Teens’ Food Survey II (2019–2020)

Objectives: Dietary fibre (DF) plays a major role in normal bowel function and adequate intakes are important across the lifecycle to prevent chronic conditions such as constipation. Recent data from the National Teens’ Food Survey II in Ireland showed that the usual intake of DF in teenagers (16.9g/d) was below recommendations. The aim of this study was to further investigate sex and age group differences in the intakes and key dietary sources of DF in this nationally representative sample of teenagers.

Methods: Dietary intake data were collected using a 4-day weighed food diary from 428 teenagers (51% girls). Usual intakes of DF (g & g/10MJ) were calculated via the NCI-method using SAS^© Enterprise Guide. Analyses were conducted using SPSS^© V26. The dietary sources of DF (percent contribution of food groups to DF intake) were calculated by the mean proportion method. Statistical differences between sexes and age groups (13-14y, 15-17y, 18y) were analysed using parametric tests (due to large sample size) with differences identified as p< 0.001 (adjusted for multiple testing).

Results: Boys had higher intakes (mean, SD) of DF (18.9, 5.5g) than girls (15.0, 4.8g). However, girls had higher energy adjusted intakes than boys (23.5, 4.6 v 22.0, 4.5g/10MJ)). Intakes of DF were significantly different across age groups: 13-14y (16.2, 5.4g), 15-17y (17.3, 5.6g), 18y (17.6, 5.4g) with older teenagers having higher intakes than younger teenagers. Energy adjusted intakes were also higher in older teenagers compared to younger: 13-14y (22.4, 4.5g/10MJ), 15-17y (22.9, 4.6g/10MJ), 18y (23.3, 4.6g/10MJ). There were no differences in the key dietary sources of DF between sexes and age groups with the following food groups contributing similar proportions across groups: ‘bread & rolls’ (18-20%), ‘grains, rice, pasta & savouries’ (13-14%), ‘potatoes & potato products’ (12-14%), ‘breakfast cereals’ (11-14%), ‘meat & meat dishes’ (8-10%), ‘vegetables & vegetable dishes’ (8-10%) and ‘fruit & fruit juices’ (5-8%).

Conclusions: This research has shown that girls and older teenagers consumed a more fibre dense diet compared to boys and younger age groups. Further research is needed to investigate the dietary determinants of DF intakes in this cohort to inform strategies to increase DF intakes in this population group.

Funding Sources: Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Ireland