Abstract
Objective:
To compare dietary habits between Finnish twin migrants to Sweden and their co-twins always living in Finland, and to analyse how migration influenced food consumption patterns in the migrants.
Subjects/Methods:
Same-sexed twin pairs born in Finland below 75 years of age, with at least one twin migrating to Sweden (n=1083 pairs). Dietary habits were assessed by a food frequency questionnaire included in a comprehensive mailed questionnaire (response rate 71%). For 76 male twin pairs, information was also collected by a dietary history interview inquiring the habitual diet during the previous year.
Results:
Migrant twins in Sweden had a lower intake of typical Finnish foods like dark bread and berries, and an increased consumption of fresh fruit compared with co-twins living in Finland. The migrants consumed less potatoes and more rice and pasta. Sweet pastries were consumed less often by the migrants and they also tended to more often cut out visible fat of meat and on the other hand add salt to dishes. Among men the migrants had a lower alcohol intake than their co-twins living in Finland.
Conclusions:
Migration from Finland to Sweden is associated with differences in the food pattern that reflect population differences in eating habits between the two countries. The differences include a reduced consumption of typical Finnish foods like dark bread and berries and are of bidirectional nature from the point of view of cardiovascular health.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alfredsson L, Ahlbom A, Theorell T (1982). Incidence of myocardial infarction among male Finnish immigrants in relation to length of stay in Sweden. Int J Epidemiol 11, 225–228.
Becker W, Pearson M (2002). Riksmaten 1997–1998. Befolkningens kostvanor och näringsintag. Metod- och resultatanalys (Riksmaten 1997–1998. Dietary habits and nutrient intake in Sweden 1997–1998) Livsmedelsverket: Uppsala.
Becker W, Nordhamn K, Berge S, Kortesmaa T, Nielsen B, Thorgeirsdóttir H et al. (2001). Food consumption in the Nordic countries 1965–1998. National, annual food balance sheet data. In Swedish with English summary. Tema Nord 200:527 Nordic Council of Ministers: Copenhagen .
Dunham DP, Czyszon A, Chávez N, Piorkowski J, Persky V (2004). Dietary differences among women of Polish descent by country of birth and duration of residency in the United States. Ethn Dis 14, 219–226.
Fisher P, Straubhaar T (1996). Migration and Economic Integration in the Nordic Common Labour Market. Nordic Council of Ministers: Copenhagen.
Gadd M, Johandsson SE, Sundquist J, Wandell P (2003). Morbidity in cardiovascular diseases in immigrants in Sweden. J Intern Med 254, 236–243.
Green MS, Etzion T, Incha E (1991). Blood pressure and serum cholesterol among Ethiopian immigrants compared to other Israelis. J Epidemiol Community Health 45, 281–286.
Hakala P, Knuts LR, Vuorinen A, Hammar N, Becker W (2003). Comparison of nutrient intake data calculated on the bases of two different databases. Results and experiences from a Swedish–Finnish study. Eur J Clin Nutr 57, 1035–1044.
Hammar N, Kaprio J, Hagström U, Alfredsson L, Koskenvuo M, Hammar T (2002). Migration and mortality: a 20 year follow up of Finnish twin pairs with migrant co-twins in Sweden. J Epidemiol Community Health 56, 362–366.
Hankin JH, Wilkens LR (1994). Development and validation of dietary assessment methods for culturally diverse populations. Am J Clin Nutr 59 (Suppl), 198S–200S.
Jartti L (2003). Markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. A Study of Middle-Aged Male Twins Discordant for Migration from Finland to Sweden Thesis, University of Turku: Turku, Finland.
Jartti L, Rönnemaa T, Kaprio J, Järvisalo MJ, Toikka JO, Marniemi J et al. (2002). Population-based twin study of the effects of migration from Finland to Sweden on endothelial function and intima-media thickness. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 33, 832–837.
Kaprio J, Sarna S, Koskenvuo M, Rantasalo I (1978). The Finnish Twin Registry: formation and compilation, questionnaire study, zygosity determination procedures and research program. Prog Clin Biol res 24B, 179–184.
Kasteloot H, Sans S, Kromhout D (2006). Dynamics of cardiovascular all-cause mortality in Western Eastern Europe between 1970 and 2000. Eur Heart J 27, 107–113.
Keil JE, Brott RP, Weinrich MC, Hollis Y, Keil BW (1980). Hypertension in Punjabi females: comparison between migrants in London and natives in India. Hum Biol 52, 423–433.
Kouris-Blazos A, Wahlqvist ML, Trichopoulos A, Polychronopoulos E, Trichopoulos D (1996). Health and nutritional status of elderly Greek migrants to Melbourne, Australia. Age Ageing 25, 177–189.
Krupinski J (1984). Changing patterns of migration to Australia and their influence on the health of migrants. Soc Sci Med 18, 927–937.
Kuulasmaa K, Tunstall-Pedoe H, Dobson A, Fortmann S, Sans S, Tolonen H et al. (2000). Estimation of contribution of changes in classic risk factors to trends in coronary-event rates across the WHO MONICA Project populations. Lancet 355, 675–687.
Lahmann PH, Lissner L, Gullberg B, Berglund G (2000). Differences in body fat and central adiposity between Swedes and European immigrants: the Malmö diet and cancer study. Obes Res 8, 620–631.
Lainio J (ed) (1996). Finnarnas historia i Sverige 3. Tiden efter 1945. The History of Finns in Sweden 3. The Time After 1945. Finska Historiska Samfundet & Nordiska Museet: Helsingfors & Stockholm. (In Swedish).
Landman J, Cruickshank JK (2001). A review of ethnicity, health and nutrition-related diseases in relation to migration in the United Kingdom. Public Health Nutr 4, 647–657.
Lock K, Pomerlau J, Causer L, Altmann DR, McKee M (2005). The global burden of disease attributable to low consumption of fruit and vegetables: implications for the global strategy on diet. Bull World Health Org 83, 100–108.
Menotti A, Keys A, Kromhout D, Blackburn H, Aravanis C, Bloemberg B et al. (1993). Inter-cohort differences in coronary heart disease mortality in the 25-year follow-up of the seven countries study. Eur J Epidemiol 9, 527–536.
Montonen J (2005). Plant Foods in the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Emphasis on Dietary Fiber and Antioxidant Vitamins. Publications of the National Public Health Institute A13/2005, University of Helsinki: Finland.
National Public Health Institute (1998). The 1997 Dietary Survey of Finnish Adults. Helsinki: Finland.
National Food Administration and National Institute of Public Health (2005). Background Material to the Action Plan for Healthy Dietary Habits and Increased Physical Activity. Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden www.slv.se/templates/SLV_Page.aspx?id=15733&epslanguage=EN-GB.
National Food Administration (2005). The Keyhole Symbol. www.slv.se/templates/SLV_Page.aspx?id=12220&epslanguage=EN-GB.
Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (2004). Integrating nutrition and physical activity, 4th edn. Nord 2004: 13. Nordic Council of Ministers: Copenhagen www.norden.org/pub/sk/showpub.asp?pubnr=2004:013.
Rimm EB, Klatsky A, Grobbee D, Stampfer MJ (1996). Review of moderate alcohol consumption and reduced risk of coronary heart disease: is the effect due to beer, wine or spirits. BMJ 312, 731–736.
Robertson TL, Kato H, Rhoads GG, Kagan A, Marmot M, Syme SL et al. (1977). Epidemiologic studies of coronary heart disease and stroke in Japanese men living in Japan, Hawaii and California. Incidence of myocardial infarction and death from coronary heart disease. Am J Cardiol 39, 239–243.
Rogot E (1978). Cardiorespiratory disease mortality among British and Norwegian migrants to the United States. Am J Epidemiol 108, 181–191.
Romanov K, Rose RJ, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M, Langinvainio H, Sarna S (1987). Self-reported alcohol use: a longitudinal study of 12 994 adults. Alcohol (Suppl 1), 619–623.
Roos G, Prättäla R (1999). Disparities in Food Habits. Review of Research in 15 European Countries, FAIR-97-3096 Publications of the National Public Health Institute B24/1999, University of Helsinki: Finland.
Rosenthal T, Grossman E, Knecht A, Goldbourt U (1989). Blood pressure in Ethiopian immigrants in Israel: comparison with resident Israelis. J Hypertens 7 (Suppl 1), S53–S55.
Salmond CE, Prior IAM, Wessen AF (1989). Blood pressure patterns and migration: a 14-year study of adult Tokelauans. Am J Epidemiol 130, 37–52.
Sharma S, Cade J, Riste L, Cruickshank K (1999). Nutrient intake trends among African–Carribeans in Britain: a migrant population and its second generation. Public Health Nutr 2, 469–476.
Silventoinen K, Hammar N, Hedlund E, Koskenvuo M, Rönnemaa T, Kaprio J (2007). Selective international migration by social position, health behaviour and personality. Eur J Publ Health. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckmo52.
Sundquist J, Johansson SE (1997). The influence of country of birth on mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease in Sweden 1979–1993. Int J Epidemiol 26, 279–287.
Truswell AS (2002). Cereal grains and coronary heart disease. Eur J Clin Nutr 56, 1–14.
Venn BJ, Mann JI (2004). Cereal grains, legumes and diabetes. Review. Eur J Clin Nutr 58, 1443–1461.
Williams RL (2000). A note on robust variance estimation for cluster-correlated data. Biometrics 56, 645–646.
World Health Organization (2007). Cardiovascular Infobase. www.who.com.
Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Dans T, Avezum A, Lanas F et al. (2004). Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case–control study. Lancet 364, 937–952.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation and the Academy of Finland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hammar, N., Hakala, P., Jörgensen, L. et al. Migration and differences in dietary habits—a cross sectional study of Finnish twins in Sweden. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 312–322 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602931
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602931
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Dietary habits of Albanian immigrants living in Greece in comparison to Albanians living in their country
Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (2013)
-
Dietary differences between elderly Iranians living in Sweden and Iran a cross-sectional comparative study
BMC Public Health (2011)