Variety Predicts Discretionary Food and Beverage Intake of Australian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of an Online Food Intake Survey

Background: Variety has been used as a strategy for increasing intakes of healthy foods, but has not been well explored with respect to discretionary food/beverages. The diverse sensory properties of these foods suggests that variety could play an important role in total intake. 

Objective: This study explored variety as a predictor of intake of discretionary food/beverages, and described the variety of these items consumed by Australian adults. 

Design: Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data from a validated, online survey that assesses participants’ dietary intake using frequency and portion-based questions. Discretionary food/beverages are grouped into 11 categories. 

Participants/setting: Participants included 235,203 Australian adults, aged 18 years or older, who provided data from May 2015 to November 2020. 

Outcome measures: Variety was the number of categories of discretionary food/beverages consumed. Servings were estimated from usual intake questions, and percent contribution summarized by category. Consumption prevalence was the proportion of the sample/subgroup consuming each category. Consumption was calculated as the mean of the sample and per capita in servings. 

Statistical analyses performed: Descriptive statistics were used to present variety and percent contribution to total intake across the sample and subgroups, and multiple regression was used to examine whether or not variety predicted intake of discretionary food/beverages. 

Results: Participants consumed a median of 8 categories of discretionary food/beverages, with every additional category associated wit h an increase in intake of half a serving of discretionary food/beverages per day (B = 0.48; P < 0.001). Alcohol, cakes and cookies, takeaway, and confectionary collectively contributed around two-thirds of total daily intake of discretionary food/beverages, with alcohol contributing the largest proportion (28.3% of total daily intake). 

Conclusions: Variety is related to total intake of discretionary food/beverages. Intervention approaches targeting a reduction in variety, as an alternative to a focus on portion size or frequency of intake, would be a novel way of addressing overconsumption of discretionary food/beverages in future research.