The influence of socio-demographic factors on patterns of thyme and thyme products consumption: the case of a Mediterranean country

KARAM, Layal; KOSSEIFI, Nathalie; JAOUDE, Maya Abou; MERHI, Samar; ELOBEID, Tahra; HASSAN, Hussein F.

doi:10.1590/fst.72122

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Original Article • Food Sci. Technol 42 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/fst.72122 copy

The influence of socio-demographic factors on patterns of thyme and thyme products consumption: the case of a Mediterranean country

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Thyme intake assessment is gaining significance because thyme is becoming a global staple food and its use has been on the rise. In our study, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was developed to assess thyme intake in Lebanon. Out of the total 1555 adult participants, 1523 persons (97.9%) consumed at least one thyme product among the14 assessed thyme-containing products. The mean consumption of thyme products was estimated to be 425.5 g/day, providing an estimated 31.4 g/day of thyme. Thyme pie had the highest mean intake (72.5 g/day) and represented the highest thyme contribution (10.4 g/day) among all thyme products, while crackers with thyme had the lowest mean intake (3.7 g/day) and the lowest thyme contribution (0.2 g/day). The mean consumption values for thyme products were significantly different between participants of different genders, age categories, socio-economic and demographic levels. This study highlighted the importance of a food frequency questionnaire as a tool for data collection about the consumption patterns.

Keywords:
thyme; food frequency questionnaire; dietary intake; herbs

Administrative Regions	Percentage of habitants (%)	Number of sample population (habitants)
Beirut	9	139
Mount Lebanon + Beirut suburbs	41	632
North	20	308
Bekaa	12	185
South	18	277
Total	100	1541

English name	Traditional name	Abbreviations	Thyme contribution % (w/w)
Thyme pie	Manoushe zaatar	TP	14.3 (10.4)
Cheese and thyme pie	Manooshe cheese and zaatar	CTP	5.6 (3.1)
Fresh thyme salad	Fresh zaatar salad	FTS	3.5 (2.4)
Thyme regular mix sandwich	Zaatar regular sandwich	TRS	31.0 (5.2)
Thyme mix with nuts and seeds sandwich	Zaatar mix with nuts, seeds…sandwich	TNS	34.5 (3.9)
Pizza and pasta with thyme sauces	Pizza and pasta with zaatar sauces	PP	1.2 (0.3)
Bread sticks with thyme (crunchy)	Kaak with zaatar (crunchy)	BS	11.6 (0.6)
Sesame thick bread with thyme (soft)	Kaak with zaatar (soft)	SB	6.8 (0.9)
Crackers with thyme	Crackers with zaatar	CT	6.7 (0.2)
Toast/Bread with thyme	Toast/bread with zaatar	TB	3.4 (0.2)
Thyme croissant	Croissant zaatar	TC	9.4 (0.9)
Traditional molded aged cheese with thyme Traditional strained yogurt balls with thyme	Chanklish Labneh mkaazaleh	TCY	1.1 (0.2)
Homemade or catering recipes with thyme	Homemade or catering recipes with zaatar	HMC	7.7 (4.8)
Tea thyme	Zaatar tea	TT	1.7 (0.9)

Total participants Thyme consumers
Variable	Mean ¹ (SD ² )
Age	35.3 (15.6)	35.4 (15.7)
Weight	72.3 (15.3)	72.4 (15.3)
	Frequency (%)
Number of participants	1555 (100)	1523 (97.9)
Gender
Male	672 (43.2)	661 (43.4)
Female	883 (56.8)	862 (56.6)
Area of residence
Mount Lebanon	634 (40.8)	628 (41.3)
North	317 (20.4)	296 (19.4)
Beirut	139 (8.9)	137 (9.0)
South	277 (17.8)	274 (18.0)
Bekaa	188 (12.1)	188 (12.3)

Urban	1004 (64.7)	993 (65.2)
Rural	551 (35.3)	530 (34.8)
Education level
Elementary school	215 (13.8)	214 (14.0)
Technical/high school	381 (24.6)	376 (24.7)
Bachelor	716 (45.9)	696 (45.7)
Master/Doctorate/Post doctorate	243 (15.7)	237 (15.6)
Household income (US $ ³ per month)
≤ 499	77 (5.0)	77 (5.1)
500-999	263 (16.9)	259 (17.0)
1000-1999	426 (27.4)	422 (27.7)
2000-2999	376 (24.2)	361 (23.7)
≥ 3000	413 (26.5)	404 (26.5)

	Frequency of Consumption % (n)
Thyme product	Never	< 1/month	Monthly	Weekly	Daily
TP	14.7 (229)	11.0 (171)	36.1 (562)	34.9 (541)	3.3 (52)
CTP	52.7 (821)	11.3 (176)	22.8 (354)	12.6 (195)	0.6 (9)
FTS	42.4 (659)	8.6 (133)	24.1 (376)	19.7 (306)	5.2 (81)
TRS	33.8 (525)	8.0 (124)	23.8 (371)	25.3 (393)	9.1 (142)
TNS	69.5 (1081)	6.0 (94)	13.2 (206)	9.2 (143)	2.1 (31)
PP	46.9 (730)	8.0 (124)	33.8 (527)	10.8 (167)	0.5 (7)
BS	58.5 (910)	10.2 (159)	19.2 (299)	9.0 (139)	3.1 (48)
SB	52.4 (815)	14.9 (231)	25.9 (403)	6.5 (101)	0.3 (5)
CT	69.0 (1074)	8.0 (125)	13.7 (212)	8.2 (127)	1.1 (17)
TB	76.8 (1196)	6.3 (98)	11.1 (173)	4.4 (66)	1.4 (22)
TC	51.0 (794)	14.6 (228)	26.4 (409)	7.7 (120)	0.3 (4)
TCY	55.2 (858)	9.1 (142)	21.5 (333)	12.7 (199)	1.5 (23)
HMC	69.8 (1087)	7.3 (114)	13.1 (203)	8.3 (129)	1.5 (22)
TT	82.2 (1278)	5.6 (87)	5.3 (83)	4.7 (73)	2.2 (34)

	Routine consumption			Increased consumption
Thyme products	Consumers % (n)	Mean ¹ ± SD ²	Thyme contribution	Consumers % (n)	Mean ± SD	Thyme contribution	p value
TP	85.3 (1323)	72.5 ± 109.4	10.4	10.1 (154)	141.9 ± 119.8	20.3	< 0.001*
CTP	47.2 (733)	55.2 ± 85.4	3.1	3.2 (48)	167.3 ± 198.5	9.4	< 0.001*
FTS	57.6 (892)	68.2 ± 115.4	2.4	11.2 (171)	115.8 ± 101.2	4.1	< 0.001*
TRS	66.2 (1027)	16.8 ± 24.2	5.2	6.2 (95)	34.0 ± 29.7	10.5	< 0.001*
TNS	30.5 (472)	11.2 ± 18.2	3.9	2.7 (41)	29.2 ± 20.4	10.1	< 0.001*
PP	53.1 (821)	27.3 ± 37.4	0.3	3.8 (58)	28.8 ± 160.1	0.3	0.275
BS	41.5 (641)	5.0 ± 11.1	0.6	3.7 (57)	13.4 ± 14.2	1.5	< 0.001*
SB	47.6 (737)	13.9 ± 28.5	0.9	2.9 (44)	40.8 ± 80.7	2.7	< 0.001*
CT	30.9 (477)	3.7 ± 6.0	0.2	3.2 (48)	7.7 ± 9.5	0.5	< 0.001*
TB	23.1 (357)	6.6 ± 15.2	0.2	1.2 (18)	9.8 ± 7.0	0.3	< 0.001*
TC	49.0 (760)	9.6 ± 19.0	0.9	1.8 (28)	23.0 ± 27.7	2.2	< 0.001*
TCY	44.8 (693)	20.9 ± 47.8	0.2	3.0 (45)	38.8 ± 39.5	0.4	< 0.001*
HMC	30.1 (463)	61.9 ± 123.3	4.8	1.6 (25)	122.2 ± 102.6	9.4	< 0.001*
TT	17.9 (265)	52.7 ± 78.7	0.9	4.7 (72)	119.0 ± 78.9	2	0.001*

Consumption of each food item (g/day)
	Adults Age (years)						Gender
	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	> 60		Male	Female
	Mean ¹ ± SD ²	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p value	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p value
TP	64.3 ± 99.9^a	76.4 ± 135.6^a,b	89.5 ± 131.0^a,b,c	72.5 ± 84.0^b,c,d	69.9 ± 86.6^a,b,c,d	0.008*	97.5 ± 133.8	53.3 ± 81.4	< 0.001*
CTP	63.1 ± 95.4	47.6 ± 86.0	52.3 ± 79.8	50.6 ± 67.3	55.6 ± 71.2	0.366	66.6 ± 91.6	45.0 ± 78.0	0.001*
FTS	47.7 ± 89.6^a	58.1 ± 118.1^a,b	67.3 ± 87.3^b,c	81.1 ± 125.5^b,c	106.6 ± 153.0^d	< 0.001*	70.1 ± 108.5	66.8 ± 120.5	0.824
TRS	12.7 ± 20.0^d	18.2 ± 27.4^a,b	15.8 ± 21.1^a	20.5 ± 26.2^c	21.7 ± 27.2^a,b,c	< 0.001*	19.0 ± 26.0	15.4 ± 22.8	0.023*
TNS	8.9 ± 14.9	11.0 ± 15.7	12.9 ± 20.2	11.4 ± 22.1	16.1 ± 20.8	0.076	13.7 ± 21.8	9.5 ± 15.0	0.013*
PP	28.0 ± 42.0	29.7 ± 37.6	23.3 ± 23.1	23.1 ± 23.6	35.0 ± 57.2	0.639	31.2 ± 42.7	24.6 ± 33.1	0.017*
BS	4.87 ± 8.02	4.8 ± 9.1	7.1 ± 21.9	4.3 ± 7.2	5.1 ± 11.6	0.413	4.7 ± 8.1	5.2 ± 12.6	0.137
SB	16.5 ± 38.9	11.0 ± 13.6	9.4 ± 12.1	16.4 ± 30.9	11.4 ± 13.31	0.173	14.0 ± 20.5	13.8 ± 33.3	0.245
CT	4.4 ± 6.6^b,c,d	2.7 ± 3.3^a,b,c,d	3.4 ± 5.2^a,b	3.5 ± 7.5^a	2.5 ± 3.3^a,b,c	0.048*	4.0 ± 6.8	3.5 ± 5.6	0.768
TB	8.5 ± 19.8	5.0 ± 13.1	3.7 ± 10.5	7.0 ± 13.7	6.6 ± 9.0	0.36	5.5 ± 13.4	7.2 ± 16.2	0.067
TC	11.6 ± 25.7	9.2 ± 13.7	10.0 ± 18.4	7.5 ± 10.2	5.8 ± 6.9	0.285	13.3 ± 25.3	6.7 ± 11.1	< 0.001*
TCY	20.2 ± 37.8^a,b	28.4 ± 85.2^a,b,c	14.5 ± 22.2^a	16.2 ± 22.5^b,c,d	27.4 ± 45.9^c,d	0.012*	24.3 ± 41.4	18.2 ± 52.2	0.196
HMC	41.4 ± 74.1	68.0 ± 127.0	68.2 ± 157.1	73.1 ± 126.4	71.5 ± 154.6	0.064	68.0 ± 141.7	57.8 ± 109.5	0.292
TT	49.32 ± 75.58	51.03 ± 74.41	37.80 ± 66.94	53.87 ± 73.22	70.37 ± 104.28	0.491	47.6 ± 75.0	56.4 ± 81.4	0.678

Thyme product	Mount Lebanon	North	Beirut	South	Bekaa		Urban	Rural
Thyme product	Mean ¹ ± SD ²	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p value	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p value
TP	56.1 ± 83.5^a	74.2 ± 97.9^b,c	68.0 ± 88.2^a,b	108.5 ± 163.9^d	73.5 ± 103.5^bc,d	< 0.001*	66.6 ± 98.9	83.6 ± 126.4	0.013*
CTP	43.4 ± 56.6^a	58.2 ± 125.1^a,b	69.9 ± 102.1^b,c,d	76.4 ± 106.7^d	54.8 ± 90.0^a,b,c	< 0.001*	54.7 ± 81.7	56.7 ± 93.7	0.51
FTS	57.8 ± 109.7^a	55.7 ± 69.5^a,b	64.6 ± 86.0^a,b,c	84.6 ± 148.2^b,c	103.3 ± 138.6^c	< 0.001*	57.9 ± 96.4	88.9 ± 144.5	0.001*
TRS	14.3 ± 23.5^a	23.6 ± 26.5^b	11.4 ± 16.6^a	17.9 ± 23.9^c	21.3 ± 27.1^b	< 0.001*	15.5 ± 24.5	19.9 ± 23.3	0.483
TNS	7.4 ± 13.7^a	11.3 ± 15.4^b,c	8.7 ± 15.9^a,b	11.3 ± 18.1^a,b,c	26.4 ± 26.0^d	< 0.001*	8.9 ± 17.0	17.6 ± 19.9	< 0.001*
PP	23.4 ± 30.8^a	34.9 ± 51.1^b,c,d	36.5 ± 44.5^a,b,c,d	25.5 ± 33.1^a,b	28.9 ± 38.0^a,b,c	0.033*	24.8 ± 33.9	33.8 ± 44.8	0.007*
BS	3.8 ± 6.8^a	4.3 ± 7.9^a,b,c	3.1 ± 3.6^a,b	6.2 ± 11.3^a,b,c	13.5 ± 26.5	< 0.001*	4.0 ± 8.2	7.2 ± 15.3	0.005*
SB	12.2 ± 24.3^a,b	14.9 ± 35.8^a	25.2 ± 53.9^d	13.7 ± 15.4^c,d	9.7 ± 9.8^a,b,c	0.003*	12.9 ± 28.6	16.5 ± 28.2	0.183
CT	3.1 ± 5.9	4.4 ± 6.7	4.4 ± 7.6	4.2 ± 5.1	3.6 ± 3.9	0.321	3.6 ± 6.2	3.8 ± 5.7	0.801
TB	5.5 ± 15.8^a	6.3 ± 11.4^a,b	4.9 ± 7.7^a,b,c,d	12.1 ± 18.5^c,d	9.2 ± 13.7^a,b,c	< 0.001*	6.4 ± 16.8	6.9 ± 9.8	0.619
TC	6.9 ± 10.4^a	10.5 ± 17.3^a,b,c	7.7 ± 9.6^a,b	16.6 ± 34.2^e	10.2 ± 18.3^b,d,e	< 0.001*	9.1 ± 19.4	10.9 ± 18.1	0.271
TCY	16.6 ± 37.0^a,b	24.8 ± 41.5^a,c,d	15.7 ± 27.5^a,b,c	17.1 ± 30.2^a	33.0 ± 83.6^d	< 0.001*	18.1 ± 33.4	26.1 ± 66.5	0.075
HMC	40.4 ± 77.3^a	163.5 ± 241.4^b,c,d	52.0 ± 69.2^b,c	46.9 ± 78.4^a,b	114.3 ± 187.1^d	< 0.001*	43.8 ± 79.4	108.1 ± 187.5	< 0.001*
TT	38.2 ± 62.9^a	104.0 ± 108.0^b,c,d	80.7 ± 91.8^b,c,d	77.4 ± 89.0^b,c	44.0 ± 81.3^a,b	0.002*	52.9 ± 80.7	52.4 ± 75.4	0.616

Thyme products	Elementary school	Technical/high school	Bachelor	Postgraduate	p-value
Thyme products	Mean ¹ ± SD ²	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p-value
TP	104.8 ± 134.0^b	80.4 ± 131.8^c	63.6 ± 95.5^a	54.8 ± 66.6^a	< 0.001^* * p < 0.05 is considered significant;
CTP	89.4 ± 120.2^b	54.6 ± 62.6^a,b	52.8 ± 89.8^a	28.6 ± 36.5^c	< 0.001*
FTS	89.9 ± 128.0^c	60.6 ± 101.0^a,b	62.5 ± 120.2^a	73.1 ± 103.6^a,b	0.001*
TRS	22.4 ± 30.9^c	15.8 ± 22.4^a,b	14.8 ± 21.5^a	19.3 ± 26.4^a,b,c	0.009*
TNS	16.7 ± 22.5	9.8 ± 12.6	10.7 ± 19.4	9.9 ± 17.3	0.131
PP	30.9 ± 45.4	21.3 ± 23.9	29.8 ± 40.8	25.8 ± 35.8	0.108
BS	3.4 ± 6.5	5.1 ± 8.8	4.7 ± 8.3	7.6 ± 22.1	0.672
SB	19.3 ± 37.6^c	10.7 ± 12.3^a,b	13.8 ± 26.1^b,c	14.2 ± 42.7^a	0.008*
CT	2.4 ± 3.6	4.0 ± 5.6	3.7 ± 5.6	3.8 ± 5.1	0.143
TB	7.3 ± 16.0	4.2 ± 5.9	6.8 ± 14.5	8.9 ± 24.8	0.464
TC	12.9 ± 21.2^c	9.2 ± 25.8^a,b	9.9 ± 16.2^b,c	6.5 ± 9.9^a	0.005*
TCY	25.0 ± 42.1	18.4 ± 33.5	22.7 ± 61.8	16.3 ± 24.0	0.443
HMC	50.7 ± 86.2^b,c	51.2 ± 131.0^a	63.4 ± 126.9^a,b	81.3 ± 128.5^c	0.001*
TT	47.6 ± 86.0	46.3 ± 71.2	53.1 ± 77.4	74.3 ± 87.9	0.378

Thyme products	< 1000$¹	≥ 1000$	p value
	Mean² ± SD³	Mean ± SD
TP	90.1 ± 149.9	53.7 ± 85.7	< 0.001*
CTP	43.4 ± 92.9	21.2 ± 53.5	< 0.001*
FTS	53.5 ± 120.2	35.1 ± 84.5	0.009*
TRS	14.4 ± 24.3	10.2 ± 20.2	0.004*
TNS	4.1 ± 11.7	3.2 ± 11.2	0.06
PP	14.1 ± 30.1	14.5 ± 30.5	0.8
BS	2.0 ± 6.0	2.1 ± 7.9	0.731
SB	9.3 ± 26.4	5.8 ± 18.9	0.023*
CT	0.8 ± 2.8	1.2 ± 4.0	0.011*
TB	1.4 ± 6.8	1.5 ± 8.1	0.693
TC	7.9 ± 24.4	3.8 ± 9.3	0.003*
TCY	10.4 ± 25.7	9.0 ± 35.4	0.472
HMC	16.7 ± 50.2	18.9 ± 78.1	0.238
TT	13.4 ± 47.3	7.7 ± 35.0	0.040*

	Minimum	Maximum		Mean ¹ ± SD ²
Age	1.5	17		8.5 ± 5.0
Weight (Kg)	11	60		32.6 ± 14.5
	Consumption (g/day)
Thyme	% consumers (n)		Mean ± SD		Thyme contribution per food item (g/day)
Products	% consumers (n)		Mean ± SD		Thyme contribution per food item (g/day)
TP	80.4 (115)		77.6 ± 92.3		11.1
CTP	31.5 (45)		85.2 ± 132.4		4.8
FTS	32.9 (47)		60.0 ± 80.4		2.1
TRS	62.2 (89)		18.1 ± 18.9		5.6
TNS	21.0 (30)		15.1 ± 13.3		5.2
PP	46.9 (67)		35.6 ± 60.0		0.4
BS	43.4 (62)		3.4 ± 6.7		0.4
SB	48.3 (69)		19.1 ± 33.5		1.3
CT	27.3 (39)		2.8 ± 6.4		0.2
TB	16.1 (23)		5.6 ± 6.0		0.2
TC	39.2 (56)		9.9 ± 20.3		0.9
TCY	31.5 (45)		24.0 ± 47.4		0.3
TCY	31.5 (45)		24.0 ± 47.4		1.8
HMC	14.7 (21)		64.7 ± 81.3		1.1
TT	8.4 (12)		43.4 ± 70.4		0.4

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[1] *Corresponding author: hussein.hassan@lau.edu.lb