Comparative Analysis of Nutrition Quality and Factors Determining it of Various Socio-Demographic Groups

The paper describes existing global indices for assessing nutrition quality, one of them (Dietary Approaches to Prevent Hypertension (DASH) Diet Quality Assessment) was modeled and applied on Rosstat data on sample monitoring of the population’s diet for 2013 and 2018. We had to adapt some components of the formula specifically for Russian data. We found that the quality of the diet is significantly influenced by socio-demographic (gender, age, type of settlement, level of education and marital status), economic (average per capita income and share of food expenses), behavioral characteristics (frequency of smoking, level of physical activity) and signs related to health status (Body Mass Index, self-assessment of health, history of a heart attack, stroke, and existing gastrointestinal diseases). Various combinations of the above characteristics made it possible to identify vulnerable groups of the population that have a low quality diet, such as smoking men with secondary education, married and living in the city. The integral nutrition assessment method is useful for cases where the data does not fully and in detail reveal the nutritional value of the food consumed, and also, if necessary, to compare the results from different sources.