Association between intake of nutrients and food groups and liking for fat (The Nutrinet-Santé Study)

Apart from the established association between liking for fat and fat intake, little is known about the associationbetween liking for fat and intake of specific nutrients or food groups. We investigated the associationbetween dietary intake and liking for fat, fat-and-sweet and fat-and-salt. Liking scores wereconstructed using a validated preference questionnaire administered to 41,595 French adults participatingin the Nutrinet-Santé study. Dietary data were collected using web-based 24 h records. Relationshipsbetween liking and dietary intake were assessed using linear regression adjusted for age and energyintake. Results are expressed in percentage difference of intake between individuals with low liking andthose with high liking. Compared with participants with low liking for fat, individuals with a strong likingfor fat had higher intakes of total energy (+10.1% in women (W); +8.4% in men (M)), fats (W: +7.3%; M:+10.0%), saturated fats (W: +10.8%;M+15.4%), meat (W: +13.0%; M: +12.6%), butter (W: +34.0%; M: +48.1%), sweetened cream desserts (W: +14.8%; M: +21.1%) and croissant-like pastries (W: +27.2%; M: +36.9). They also consumed lower quantities of omega-3 fatty acids (W: −6.2%;M: −6.0%), fiber (W: −16.4%; M: −18.9%), fruits (W: −28.8%; M: −29.5%), vegetables (W: −16.4%; M: −19.7%) and yogurt (W: −12.1%; M: −14.8%). Participants with high liking for fat-and-salt had higher intakes of total energy, sodium and alcoholic beverages and lower consumption of total and simple carbohydrates and fruit and vegetables than personswith high liking for fat-and-sweet. Our study contributes to the understanding of liking as a determinantof dietary intake. It highlighted that increased liking for fat, especially fat-and-salt liking, was associatedwith a lower intake of healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables