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Purpose: Public health policies and actions increasingly acknowledge the climate burden of food consumption. The aim of this study is to describe dietary intakes across four European countries, as baseline for further research towards healthier and environmentally-friendlier diets for Europe., Methods: Individual-level dietary intake data in adults were obtained from nationally-representative surveys from Denmark and France using a 7-day diet record, Italy using a 3-day diet record, and Czech Republic using two replicates of a 24-h recall. Energy-standardised food and nutrient intakes were calculated for each subject from the mean of two randomly selected days., Results: There was clear geographical variability, with a between-country range for mean fruit intake from 118 to 199 g/day, for vegetables from 95 to 239 g/day, for fish from 12 to 45 g/day, for dairy from 129 to 302 g/day, for sweet beverages from 48 to 224 ml/day, and for alcohol from 8 to 15 g/day, with higher intakes in Italy for fruit, vegetables and fish, and in Denmark for dairy, sweet beverages and alcohol. In all countries, intakes were low for legumes (< 20 g/day), and nuts and seeds (< 5 g/day), but high for red and processed meat (> 80 g/day). Within countries, food intakes also varied by socio-economic factors such as age, gender, and educational level, but less pronounced by anthropometric factors such as overweight status. For nutrients, intakes were low for dietary fibre (15.8-19.4 g/day) and vitamin D (2.4-3.0 µg/day) in all countries, for potassium (2288-2938 mg/day) and magnesium (268-285 mg/day) except in Denmark, for vitamin E in Denmark (6.7 mg/day), and for folate in Czech Republic (212 µg/day)., Conclusions: There is considerable variation in food and nutrient intakes across Europe, not only between, but also within countries. Individual-level dietary data provide insight into the heterogeneity of dietary habits beyond per capita food supply data, and this is crucial to balancing healthy and environmentally-friendly diets for European citizens.

Background and Aim: A high intake of dairy has been linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The relationship between dairy intake and glucose metabolism is still not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between the intake of total dairy and dairy subgroups and T2D and measures of glucose metabolism., Methods and Results: A total of 5953 Danish men and women aged 30-60 years without baseline diabetes or cardiovascular diseases were included in this prospective analysis. The dairy intake at baseline was categorised into low-fat dairy, full-fat dairy, milk and milk products, cheese and fermented dairy. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h plasma glucose (2hPG), HbA1c, insulin resistance (HOMA2-IR) and beta-cell function (HOMA2-B) were considered at 5-year follow-up. In the maximally-adjusted model (demographics, lifestyle factors, dietary factors and waist), cheese intake was inversely associated with 2hPG (β = -0.048, 95% CI -0.095; -0.001). Fermented dairy intake was inversely associated with FPG (β = -0.028, 95% CI -0.048; -0.008) and HbA1c (β = -0.016, 95% CI -0.030; -0.001). Total dairy intake and the dairy subgroups were not related to HOMA-IR and HOMA-B in the maximally-adjusted model. Furthermore, there was no significant association between intake of total dairy or any of the dairy subgroups and incidence of T2D., Conclusion: Our data suggest a modest beneficial effect of cheese and fermented dairy on glucose regulation measures; however, this did not translate into a significant association with incident T2D., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)