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Little is known about time trends in diet quality and associated inequalities in the UK. This study aimed to examine trends in adherence to four UK dietary recommendations, overall and among sociodemographic subgroups, from 1986 to 2012.

We conducted a repeated cross-sectional analysis using data from three UK diet surveys: Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults 1986–87 (n = 2018), National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) 2000–01 (n = 1683) and NDNS Rolling Programme 2008–12 (n = 1632). We measured adherence to dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetables, salt, oily fish, and red and processed meat, estimated using food diary record data. We compared adherence across surveys and by four sociodemographic characteristics: sex, age, socioeconomic position and ethnicity.

Overall, population adherence to dietary …