Objectives: To determine beef intake and assess the relationship between beef intake and nutrient adequacy in older adults.
Methods: Two days of 24-h dietary recall data collected from 5,868 older adults age 60+ years participating in NHANES 2011-2018 were used to access consumption of beef and nutrient intake. Usual intakes of nutrients (not including dietary supplements) were estimated by National Cancer Institute method and the % of population with usual intakes < Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), or > Adequate Intake (AI) was determined.
Results: A high proportion of older adults did not meet nutrient recommendations for vitamin D (96%), choline (96%), vitamin E (84%), potassium (70%), calcium (63%), magnesium (60%), vitamin C (46%), vitamin A (39%), zinc (21%), vitamin B6 (19%), folate (15%). Almost all older adults had intakes > AI for sodium.
About 68% of older adults were consumers of beef with a mean intake of 56 g/day. Beef consumers had higher intakes (P < 0.05) of energy (13%), protein (12%), calcium (11%), iron (11%), phosphorus (7%), selenium (10%), sodium (17%), zinc (27%), thiamin (7%), riboflavin (9%), niacin (8%), vitamin B12 (23%) and choline (8%) than non-consumers. A lower proportion of beef consumers (P < 0.05) had intakes < EAR for protein (4% units), calcium (12% units), copper (5% units), iron (3% units), phosphorus (1% units), selenium (2% units), zinc (29% units), thiamin (5% units), riboflavin (2% units), folate (9% units) and vitamin B12 (11% units) while a higher proportion of beef consumers (P < 0.05) had intakes < EAR for magnesium (7% units) and vitamin C (7% units) than non-consumers.
About 60, 39, 24% of older adults were consumers of fresh, ground and processed beef with mean intakes of 55, 41 and 24 g/day, respectively. A lower proportion of consumers of each beef type (P < 0.05) had intakes < EAR for protein (2-4% units), calcium (9-14% units), iron (1-3% units), selenium (1-2% units), zinc (10-33% units) and vitamin B12 (5-11% units) than their respective non-consumers. Depending on the different beef type, consumers also had higher adequacies (P < 0.05) for certain other nutrients.
Conclusions: Older adults generally had poor nutrient adequacy from foods and beverages while beef consumers had higher intakes and adequacy for certain key nutrients many of which are inherently available in beef or in foods consumed with beef.
