Global Intakes of Total Protein and Sub-types; Findings from the 2015 Global Dietary Database (P10-050-19)

Abstract

Objectives: Adequate macronutrient intake is critical for child growth and health and the prevention of non-communicable diseases. Presently, the global distributions of macronutrient intake are not well established. Our objective was to comprehensively estimate daily intakes of total, animal, and plant protein, and additional macronutrients for individuals of all ages from 185 countries in 2015. Methods: We collected and analyzed individual-level dietary intake data from nationally or sub-nationally-representative surveys, comprising 1137 survey-years of data representing 185 countries (97% of the world's population). Using a Bayesian hierarchical model, we estimated mean macronutrient intake by country, time (35 years), age (15 groups), sex, education (3 levels), urban or rural residence, and pregnancy status (when applicable). The primary model incorporated the number of subjects in each stratum, sampling representativeness, dietary assessment method, type of dietary metric, availability from the United Nations FAO, and country, and superregion (6 groupings of regions) random effects as covariates. Results: In 2015, global total protein intake was 78.2 g/day, ranging from 61.0 g in the Middle East and North Africa to 92.5 g/day in Asia. Mean national total protein intake was ≥46 g/day in all 185 countries. Global animal protein intake was 33.3 g/day and intake was highest in Latin American and the Caribbean (42.8 g/day) and lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa (38.3 g/day). The countries with the lowest mean national animal protein intake were Bangladesh (7.2 g/day) and Nepal (10.1 g/day). Global plant protein intake was 29.1 g/day. Region-specific intake was highest in the Middle East and North Africa (32.1 g/day) and lowest in the Former Soviet Union (25.5 g/day). Plant protein intake was usually greater in males than females. Additional findings for dairy protein, carbohydrate, added sugar, fiber, total fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, seafood omega-3 fat, plant omega-3 fat, and trans-fat will be presented at the meeting. Conclusions: Our results show trends and variation in protein worldwide, by region, and by country. These data provide the best available global evidence on macronutrient intakes and are valuable for informing public health policy and disease prevention efforts.