Eating Habits and Lifestyle Profile of an Italian Aging Cohort

Age, Educational level, family status, food safety, food security.

Eating habits: evaluated with the Food Habit (FHQ) section of questionnaire by Turconi et al. (2003), to investigate the eating habits related to daily number of meals, consumption of the main food groups (fruit, vegetables, etc) and soft drinks or alcoholic beverages. Each question has the following response: always, often, sometimes, never. The score assigned to each response ranged from 0 to 3, with the maximum score assigned to the healthiest one and the minimum score to the least healthy one according to the Italian National Dietary Guidelines (2018).

Smoking habits: evaluated with specific semi-quantitative questions such as: "Are you smoker, no-smoker or former smoker?"; "How long have you been smoking?", "How old were you when you started smoking?" and "How many cigarettes do you smoke daily?" in current smokers; "How many years have passed since the last cigarette?" and "How many cigarettes per day did you use to smoke?" in former smokers. The minimum score was assigned to the healthiest habit.

Physical activity level evaluated with the International Physical Activity Questionnaires (IPAQ) - Short Form. The specific activity levels assessed are walking, moderate-intensity activities and vigorous-intensity activities. The scores are expressed in Metabolic Equivalent of task -minutes/week.The total score includes the sum of the duration (in minutes) and the frequency (days) of the three dimensions analyzed (walking, activity of moderate intensity and vigorous intensity). Higher number of MET per week relate with higher level of physical activity.

Sleep Quality: evaluated with the Italian version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), validated by Curcio et al (2011). It's a 19-item questionnaire investigating seven domains of sleep (sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction). A global score, calculated from the score of each domains, higher than 5 is considered as an indicator of bad sleep quality.

Measurement of: body weight in kilograms; height in centimeters, evaluated with prediction formula height-knee by Donini et al (2000); weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m^2 to evaluate the weight status (underweight, normal, overweight, obesity);

Measurement of: waist circumference in centimeters; hip circumference in centimeters; waist and hip will be combined to report waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist and height will be combined to report waist-height ratio (WHtR), both as indicators of fat distribution and metabolic diseases risk.

Measurement of calf circumference in centimeters, as inidcator of muscle mass. Measurement of neck circumference in centimeters, as indicator of fat distribution and metabolic diseases risk.

Mesurement of: arm circumference in centimeters, as inidcator of muscle mass; triceps skinfold thickness in millimeters, as indicator of fatty mass; upper arm circumference and triceps fold will be combined to report the upper arm area in millimeters^2, upper arm muscle area in millimeters^2, upper arm fat area in millimeters^2.

Measurement of hand-grip in kilograms, to assess muscle strength

Assessment of body composition with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIVA).

Assess adherence to adequate eating habits from the analysis of Food Habits questionnaire according to the Italian National Dietary Guidelines.

Identify possible nutritional deficiencies from the analysis of the Food Habits questionnaire

Influence of eating habits analyzed with FHQ, sleep quality analyzed with PSQI, and physical activity level analyzed with IPAQ on nutritional status (all antropometric and body composition parameters collected).