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Consistency of use of plant stanol ester margarine in Finland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Meri Simojoki ,
Riitta Luoto ,
Antti Uutela ,
John D Boice Jr ,
Joseph K McLaughlin  and
Pekka Puska
Meri Simojoki
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Riitta Luoto*
Affiliation:
Health Education Research Unit, The UKK Institute, Postbox 30, FIN-33501, Tampere, Finland
Antti Uutela
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
John D Boice Jr
Affiliation:
International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD, USA Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt–Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville TN, USA
Joseph K McLaughlin
Affiliation:
International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD, USA Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt–Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville TN, USA
Pekka Puska
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland Department of Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author: Email riitta.luoto@uta.fi
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Abstract

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Objective:

The aims of this study were to investigate the consistency of use of plant stanol ester margarine and to characterise consistent and inconsistent users.

Design:

A cohort of plant stanol ester margarine users was established based on 14 national surveys conducted by the National Public Health Institute in Finland between 1996 and 1999. A follow-up study questionnaire was developed and sent to 1294 users in 2000.

Setting:

Subjects who reported using plant stanol ester margarine in both the original survey and the follow-up study were classified as consistent users, and the rest as inconsistent users.

Subjects:

The study population consisted of 1094 subjects aged 18–87 years, 590 men and 504 women.

Results:

There were 357 (33%) consistent and 737 (67%) inconsistent users of plant stanol ester margarine in the study population. Consistent users were more likely to be men and to have a higher household income than inconsistent users. Both consistent and inconsistent users were predominantly middle-aged persons with a healthy lifestyle and diet as well as a history of cardiovascular disease. Healthfulness was the main factor affecting bread spread choice among 94% of the consistent users and 59% of the inconsistent users.

Conclusions:

The use of plant stanol ester margarine is more often inconsistent than consistent. There is nevertheless a relatively large subgroup of long-term users of plant stanol ester margarine. It is important to examine the health effects especially among these regular users.

Keywords

ConsistencyPlant stanolMargarineFinland
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 63 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2004

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