A study was conducted to explore the usefulness of scalogram analysis of 24-hour recall dietary data as a measure of dietary complexity in relationship to other measures of social stratification, status incongruity and selected stress related health indicators in a population of Jerusalem adolescents and a sub-sample of their parents.

Data used in the study were collected as part of the Jerusalem Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study. The study sample consisted of 2,160 adults and seventeen year olds. Twenty four hour dietary recall data were transformed into a series of food group variables based on use of any, or non use of all, food item(s) in the group. Using a Guttman scale procedure with adjustment for misclassification, separate quasi scales were generated for each of the four major ethnic groups in the study sample. Ethnicity was determined by the country of birth for adults and country of father's birth for adolescents. Each scale contained five food groups.

Guttman scale scores and a dichotomous complexity score based on the Guttman scale scores were then compared with selected social stratification, nutritional, behavioral and health status variables. Univariate analyses of scale ranks with other variables showed a significant negative association with age and positive association with education of father. Spouse status inconsistency was marginally positively associated with dietary complexity. Spouse scale scores were significantly correlated for homogeneous (same origin) pairs but not for nonhomogeneous pairs. Fathers' complexity scores were associated with those of their children but mothers' scores were not. Nutrients associated with complexity were primarily fat, cholesterol and energy (positive), starch and carbohydrate (negative). Mean plasma cholesterol was higher in fathers in the high complexity group, compared to fathers in the low complexity group, but stress related health and behavioral variables did not appear to be related to dietary complexity as measured in this study. It was concluded that the Guttman procedure used with twenty-four hour recall data tends to scale one day dietary patterns rather than a dietary habit and only to the extent that the twenty-four hour intake represents habitual intake could it reliably scale people.