Dad Food : Men’s Nutrition

I can remember the first time my father went grocery-shopping for the family--not out of duty (that chore was traditionally relegated to my mother), but to show how it should be really done. To my mother’s hidden delight, the grocery bill nearly doubled and our family was in candy, ice cream and cookie heaven. While my father’s shopping adventures were a rare spectacle, the father of the ‘90s is a dramatic departure from the Ozzie and Harriet days.

The ‘90s man is not just dominating the television remote control--he is also beginning to take control of chores traditionally held by women. Almost one-third of men polled by an American Dietetic Assn. (ADA) survey said they do all or most of the cooking in their households.

While men may be confident in rattling off baseball statistics, 44% of men surveyed said they are less informed about nutrition than the most significant woman in their life. But of the 500 men polled nationwide, nearly two-thirds cited nutrition as a top priority.

And for good reason: Statistics show significant nutrition-related health differences between men and women. Men between the ages of 35 and 64 are three times more likely to have a heart attack than women of the same age. The life expectancy of American men is 71.4 years--seven years less than that for women. (The 1988 Surgeon General’s report associated five out of the 10 leading causes of death and disease directly with diet.)

Men tend to accumulate beer belly fat, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This type of fat accumulates around the middle area of the body in higher proportion to hips--technically referred as the waist-to-hip ratio.

“That’s why we are trying to teach good nutrition basics to men,” says Martin Yadrick, a spokesperson for the ADA, who also notes that women have typically been the targets of nutrition education efforts. It’s also the reason the ADA sponsored a two-day hotline focused on men’s nutrition.

According to Jodie Shield, a Chicago-based dietitian and a veteran volunteer at nutrition hotlines, they received twice as many calls from men as usual (about 62% of the callers were male). The men asked about fat and cholesterol most often and were concerned with business, travel and sports nutrition.

One distinct fact these calls underscored was that men have a greater daily food intake than women. “Most of the men said they consumed 2,000 calories,” says Shield. “I can never imagine a woman saying that or suggesting that high a calorie level.” Shield was also surprised that these men had a clue as to how many calories they consumed a day.

Men have the luxury of consuming more calories because of their greater muscle mass, which makes them less prone to nutrient deficiencies--unlike women, who tend to have calcium and iron as their nutritional Achilles heel. Societal pressures also tug at perception differences between men and women. Only 12% of the men said weight control was their chief reason for eating right; it is health and fitness issues that push their nutrition buttons. Although men are more interested in nutrition, and are doing more cooking, they haven’t necessarily put it all together. A 1990 Gallup poll indicated that only 23% of surveyed men could name the major food groups.

And in the most recent studies on eating patterns of men and women (conducted by USDA for men in 1985 and for women in 1986), men exceeded recommended levels of cholesterol (435 rather than 300 milligrams) and fat (37% calories from fat, rather than 30%). Men drank six times the amount of beer as women, and ate nearly twice as much meat (about 9 ounces). Men, in fact, consumed almost twice the Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein.

“Men are used to ordering their meat by the slab. They are surprised to learn that a moderate portion of meat is comparable to an airline serving, or the size of a deck of cards,” says Yadrick. “A lot of men still think they need protein to build large muscles, but it is exercise that builds (muscle) mass, “ he says. “Excess protein can contribute to overweight and dehydration.”

What’s a man to do? “Increase their intake of fruits, vegetables and carbohydrates,” says Yadrick.

With all the nutritional requirements we’re told are specific to the various population groups, it might seem that you have to provide different meals for each sex in every age group at dinner time, but it’s not that complicated. “The message is the same in a lot of ways for everyone in the family,” says Yadrick. “Decrease the fat and increase the carbohydrates.”

For a free brochure on “Food Strategies for Men,” send a self-addressed, business-size envelope to the American Dietetic Assn., c/o Lee Enterprises, P.O. Box 1068, Dept. LM20, South Holland, Ill. 60473.