Public Health Nutrition: 13(6A), 980–986 doi:10.1017/S1368980010001187 Quality of diet and food choices of Finnish young men: a sociodemographic and health behaviour approach Clarissa ML Bingham 1, *, Piia Jallinoja 1 , Marjaana Lahti-Koski 2 , Pilvikki Absetz 1 , Merja Paturi 1 , Harri Pihlajama ¨ki 3 , Timo Sahi 4 and Antti Uutela 1 1 National Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland: 2 Finnish Heart Association, Helsinki, Finland: 3 Centre of Military Medicine, Lahti, Finland: 4 Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland Submitted 20 July 2009: Accepted 15 March 2010 Abstract Objective: Eating habits of Finns have improved dramatically in 40 years. The proportion of fat in the diet has decreased and vegetable and fruit consumption increased. Knowledge of Finnish young men’s dietary habits is limited. The aim was to assess food choices and quality of diet among young men and to analyse how background and health behaviour factors explain it. Design: In 2007, data on eating habits, sociodemographic background factors and health behaviours of 17–21-year-old men (n 2905) entering military service were collected by self-administrated questionnaire. Two indexes – core food index (CFI) and extra food index (EFI) – were formed to describe daily and redundant snacking-type eating, respectively. Associations of background factors and health behaviours on the indexes were analysed by general linear modelling. Results: In all, 13 % consumed fruits and berries daily and 8 % consumed vege- tables, whereas 24 % consumed pizza and 19 % consumed hamburgers more than once a week. CFI increased with educational level (P , 0?001) and was explained by background and health behaviour (smoking, physical activity and eating breakfast). EFI was inversely associated with BMI (P , 0?001) and explained by health behaviour: (smoking, physical activity, drinking beer and eating breakfast). Conclusions: These results indicate that in early adulthood, eating habits cluster with other health behaviours among men. In this age group, education is asso- ciated with core food but not with extra food eating habits. Furthermore, seasonal variation is seen in both types of eating. When promoting healthy eating, a dis- tinction between core foods and extra foods by using feasible indexes will be helpful in targeting the efforts. Keywords Food choices Health behaviour Quality of diet Young men Eating habits at the population level have changed dra- matically in Finland since the early 1970s. Intakes of total and saturated fats were high compared to other European countries (1,2) . In 40 years, the proportion of total fat has decreased from 38 % (2) to 33 % (1,3) and that of saturated fat from 21 % to 13 % (3) . High-fat milk and butter have largely been replaced by skimmed milk and margarine. Simul- taneously, vegetable and fruit consumption has increased substantially (1,3,4) , but does not reach the national nutri- tion recommendations (5) . In the 1980s, the proportion of fat was still high (39–41 %) and consumption of potato, vegetables, cereals and milk products abundant among 18-year-old Finnish men (6,7) . After a 21-years’ follow-up among these men, the overall proportion of fat was 36 % and the consumption of vege- tables and fruit was higher than in youth (8) . These findings reflect positive changes in the prime everyday i.e. core diet. Despite these improvements, the prevalence of obesity and overweight has increased especially in young adults and adolescents in Finland (9) . Among 18-year-old boys, the prevalence of overweight (BMI . 25 kg/m 2 ) and obesity (BMI . 30 kg/m 2 ) increased 2?5-fold in 1977–1999 (10) . One possible explanation for this development is excess consumption of extra foods that are not recommended in the daily diet e.g. fast food, sweets and soft drinks. In a population-based study from 2002, snacking-type eating was found frequently among Finnish men of whom 36 % ate at least four snacks daily (11) . A more recent limited study among young men in military service revealed a preference for energy-rich, nutrient-poor foods like pizza and soft drinks (12) . More recent population-based data on dietary habits of Finnish young men is lacking. Furthermore, neither the overweight epidemic (9) nor healthy eating habits are equally distributed in different population groups (13) . Those with lower socio-economic *Corresponding author: Email clarissa.bingham@thl.fi r The Authors 2010