Consumer knowledge and attitudes toward healthy eating in Croatia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Unlike fast and restaurant food, diet rich in fibre is known to contribute significantly to health. The aim of our study was to assess eating habits such as consumption of fibre-rich, fast, and restaurant food of the general population in Croatia. For this purpose we used a validated survey designed by the Polytechnic Institute Viseu in Portugal, which includes questions about demographics, good eating habits related to the consumption of the main sources of dietary fibre (fruit, vegetables, and whole grains), and unhealthy eating habits related to the consumption of fast food and restaurant meals. Between October 2014 and March 2015 we received answers from 2,536 respondents aged between 18-70 years, of whom 67.4 % were women and 32.6 % were men. Most respondents reported consuming one serving of vegetables and one piece of fruit a day, and whole grains every other day. Women and urban residents reported consuming larger amounts of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains than men (p<0.001). Men, in turn, reported eating out and eating fast food more often than women (p<0.001). Eating out highly correlated with eating fast food, which translates to lower consumption of dietary fibre (p<0.001). Higher education correlated positively with the consumption of fibre-rich food, but it also correlated positively with the consumption of fast and restaurant food (p<0.001). While eating fast food is not the predominant dietary practice in Croatia, over 50 % of respondents have reported eating fast food at least once a week. Our data also indicate that consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains falls below the national and international dietary recommendations.

Infrequent home-cooked meal consumption is related to the inadequacy of dietary fibre and minerals intake among Japanese adults aged 18-64 years: analysis from the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey

“…The frequency of eating out and take-away meals has been associated with a lower intake of vegetable and a higher intake of fat and oils. [8,16] These results are consistent with the present study. Low intake of vegetables may partly explain the inadequate intake of potassium among men, and inadequate intake of magnesium and vitamin C among women.…”

“…[41] Additionally, better diets are seen in women compared with men [46] and high educated individuals have greater dietary ber and healthy food intake despite more frequent eating out and take-away. [8] These reports may partly explain our present nding that lower frequency of home-cooked meals is associated with lower nutrients intakes and inadequacy of nutrient intake compared with that in the High group.…”

“…This nding was largely consistent with the previous studies that reported the association the frequency of eating out with dietary ber intake. [2,8] Lower dietary ber intake was observed in the Low group in men, and the Middle group in women; this trend was similar for other nutrients. It has been reported that women in Japan and elsewhere cook more often than men.…”

“…Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the difference in the prevalence of meeting DRIs based on the Low and Middle groups according to the frequency of the home-cooked meal consumption compared with the High group in the crude and adjusted model. Confounding factors considered in the adjusted model were age category (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50), and 51-64 years), occupation (professional/manager, sales/service/clerical, security/transportation/labour, student, housekeeper, and not in paid employment), living alone or not (yes or no), region (Hokkaido/Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku/Tokai, Kinki, Shikoku/Chugoku, Kyusyu), current smoker (yes or no) and habitual alcohol drinker (yes or no), which was reported as a factor affecting the frequency of consumption of meals prepared away from home [8,27]. All statistical analyses were performed with SAS statistical software, version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).…”

“…[1] Consuming meals prepared away from home is associated with higher intake of energy, fat, and sodium, and with lower intake of dietary ber, vitamin C, and several minerals such as iron and calcium. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Additionally, meals prepared away from home has been linked to reduced consumption of healthy foods such as vegetables, fruit and dairy products. [12][13][14][15][16] Moreover, increased frequency of eating out and take-away meals was reported to be associated with an increase in body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference [12,[16][17][18], and increased risk of obesity [19][20][21], insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus [14,21,22], and depression.…”