A household food inventory for North American Chinese.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a short set of questions about foods in the household can provide information about the fat-related dietary behaviour of individual household members in less-acculturated Chinese populations. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS The study population included 244 adult females of Chinese ethnicity in Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC, Canada. SETTING Bilingual interviewers collected information on the presence of 14 high-fat foods and seven reduced-fat foods in the household. Respondents were also asked about the consumption of foods and behaviour reflective of adoption of Western dietary practices, fat-related dietary behaviour, changes in consumption of high-fat foods since immigration, and sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS Although this was a less-acculturated sample, many households had Western foods such as butter (58%), lunchmeats (36%), snack chips (43%), and 1% or skim milk (48%). Households with respondents who were younger, married, employed outside the home, and lived with young children had significantly more high-fat foods, while high education and longer percentage of life in North America were significantly associated with having more reduced-fat foods (P , or = 0.05). Participants living in households with more high-fat foods had higher-fat dietary behaviour than those with fewer high-fat foods (fat-related dietary behaviour score, 1.54 versus 1.28; P < 0.001). Women in households with more reduced-fat foods had a significantly decreased consumption of high-fat foods since immigration compared with those in households with fewer reduced-fat foods (P < 0.001). Western dietary acculturation was higher among women in households both with more high-fat foods and more reduced-fat food counterparts (P < or = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our inventory of household foods was strongly associated with current dietary behaviour, changes in food consumption, and westernization of dietary patterns. This simple, practical measure may be a useful alternative dietary assessment tool in less-acculturated Chinese populations.