Intake of pork is associated with higher nutrient intake and adequacy in race/ethnic population subgroups of adults in the United States

Author(s): Sanjiv Agarwal, Victor L. Fulgoni III

Pork is a rich source of high-quality protein and select micronutrients. The US population is ethnically diverse and cultural factors are known to affect dietary intake. Our objective was to evaluate the cross-sectional association of pork consumption on nutrient intake and adequacy among adults of different ethnicities: Hispanic Whites (NHW), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB), Hispanics (HSP) and non-Hispanic Asians (NHA) using 24-hour dietary recall data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018. Usual intake of nutrients from foods were determined using the NCI method and the percentage of population with intakes below the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) or above the Adequate Intake (AI) for pork consumers and non-consumers were estimated. About 61% NHW, 62% NHB, 57% of HSP, and 50% NHA adults were pork consumers with mean intakes of 62, 57, 58 and 68 g pork/day, respectively. Pork consumers of different ethnicities had higher intakes (P<0.05) of phosphorus, selenium, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, potassium and choline; and lower proportion of consumers below EAR or higher proportion of consumers above AI for copper, iron, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and choline than non-consumers. A comparison between pork consumers of different ethnicities indicated that while HSP consumers had highest intakes for many nutrients, the highest proportions of NHA consumers had lowest proportion below EAR or highest proportion above AI for most nutrients than pork consumers of other ethnicities. These results suggest that pork may play a role in decreasing the incidence of under nutrition.