Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population
Eating together as a family has important health benefits, as the diet is more balanced and of a higher quality. Eating together is also a factor in the prevention of diet-related diseases. The promotion of family and shared meals is currently a public health strategy. The aim of this research was t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/11/2516 |
| _version_ | 1797597036878495744 |
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| author | Elena Sandri Marcelino Pérez-Bermejo Asensi Cabo Germán Cerdá-Olmedo |
| author_facet | Elena Sandri Marcelino Pérez-Bermejo Asensi Cabo Germán Cerdá-Olmedo |
| author_sort | Elena Sandri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Eating together as a family has important health benefits, as the diet is more balanced and of a higher quality. Eating together is also a factor in the prevention of diet-related diseases. The promotion of family and shared meals is currently a public health strategy. The aim of this research was to study the eating habits of the Spanish young adult population and their impact on health. An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out using surveys. A questionnaire was designed and validated to explore a set of variables related to food and health. The dissemination was carried out through social networks by means of an online form, using non-probabilistic snowball sampling to obtain a sample of 17,969 subjects aged between 18 and 45 years. We found statistically significant differences between people living in a family home compared to people living outside a family home in the healthy eating index for the Spanish population, fish consumption, and fried food consumption. This suggests that the nutrition of people living in a family home is healthier, although their BMI is higher. People living together have a statistically higher healthy eating index value than people living alone; consume fast food, fried food, and ultra-processed food less frequently; and eat fish more often. On the other hand, people who live in a family home or are accompanied are more likely to have a sedentary lifestyle and are less physically active. It was concluded that people living alone have a worse healthy eating index than those living with company, which seems to indicate that nutritional interventions should pay attention to people living alone as a variable to be taken into account in future analyses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:01:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-db122c4632df49b7a13cfa08676414f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:01:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-db122c4632df49b7a13cfa08676414f02023-11-18T08:21:10ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432023-05-011511251610.3390/nu15112516Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult PopulationElena Sandri0Marcelino Pérez-Bermejo1Asensi Cabo2Germán Cerdá-Olmedo3Doctoral School, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, c/Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, SpainSONEV Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, c/Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, SpainFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, c/Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, SpainFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, c/Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, SpainEating together as a family has important health benefits, as the diet is more balanced and of a higher quality. Eating together is also a factor in the prevention of diet-related diseases. The promotion of family and shared meals is currently a public health strategy. The aim of this research was to study the eating habits of the Spanish young adult population and their impact on health. An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out using surveys. A questionnaire was designed and validated to explore a set of variables related to food and health. The dissemination was carried out through social networks by means of an online form, using non-probabilistic snowball sampling to obtain a sample of 17,969 subjects aged between 18 and 45 years. We found statistically significant differences between people living in a family home compared to people living outside a family home in the healthy eating index for the Spanish population, fish consumption, and fried food consumption. This suggests that the nutrition of people living in a family home is healthier, although their BMI is higher. People living together have a statistically higher healthy eating index value than people living alone; consume fast food, fried food, and ultra-processed food less frequently; and eat fish more often. On the other hand, people who live in a family home or are accompanied are more likely to have a sedentary lifestyle and are less physically active. It was concluded that people living alone have a worse healthy eating index than those living with company, which seems to indicate that nutritional interventions should pay attention to people living alone as a variable to be taken into account in future analyses.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/11/2516healthy eating index for the Spanish populationfrequency of food consumptioneating at homeeating aloneliving alone |
| spellingShingle | Elena Sandri Marcelino Pérez-Bermejo Asensi Cabo Germán Cerdá-Olmedo Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population Nutrients healthy eating index for the Spanish population frequency of food consumption eating at home eating alone living alone |
| title | Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population |
| title_full | Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population |
| title_fullStr | Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population |
| title_full_unstemmed | Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population |
| title_short | Living Alone: Associations with Diet and Health in the Spanish Young Adult Population |
| title_sort | living alone associations with diet and health in the spanish young adult population |
| topic | healthy eating index for the Spanish population frequency of food consumption eating at home eating alone living alone |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/11/2516 |
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