Abstract
BackgroundFew studies have examined the association of workhours and shift work (referred to here as “time-related work factors”) with dietary behaviors. We aimed to investigate this association, as well as the dietary behaviors among individuals with occupations characterized by time-related work factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed using data from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. The study included 39,315 working men. Dietary behaviors (i.e., skipping breakfast, eating out, eating instant food, overeating, and eating fast) were assessed with a self-reported information from the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations of time-related work factors with dietary behaviors and dietary behavior tendencies among those in occupations characterized by long workhours and/or shift work.ResultsLong workhours were associated with high frequencies of skipping breakfast, eating out, eating instant food, overeating, and eating fast. The frequency of having shift work was associated with high frequencies of skipping breakfast, eating out, and eating instant food. Several occupations involving long workhours and/or shift work showed specific dietary behaviors; in some occupations, the level of significance changed after adjusting for time-related work factors in addition to other potential confounding factors.ConclusionsTime-related work factors may help explain workers’ dietary behaviors. Long workhours and shift work may lead to poor dietary behaviors. Other factors influenced by occupation itself, such as food environment, may also influence workers’ dietary behaviors. Workhours and/or shift work, and these other work factors, should be given attention in workplace health promotion.
Highlights
Few studies have examined the association of workhours and shift work with dietary behaviors
Workhours/shift work and dietary behaviors Table 3 shows the associations of workhours/shift work with dietary behaviors
After adjusting for age, income, education, occupation, partners’ age, partners’ education, partners’ occupation, and shift work, men who worked more than 65 h/week showed significantly higher odds ratios (ORs) for the various dietary behaviors than men who worked 40 h/week or less [skipping breakfast, OR 1.48 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38–1.60); eating out, OR 1.31; eating instant food, OR 1.38; overeating, OR 1.27; and eating fast, OR 1.10]
Summary
Few studies have examined the association of workhours and shift work (referred to here as “time-related work factors”) with dietary behaviors. We aimed to investigate this association, as well as the dietary behaviors among individuals with occupations characterized by time-related work factors. Time-related work factors, such as workhours and shift work, have been reported to be associated with health issues, including obesity [1], metabolic syndrome [2], and cardiovascular. According to a previous study conducted in various EU countries, irregular workhours was the most frequently reported barrier for healthy eating [4]. Another study including young adults showed that men working more than 40 h per week were more likely to report time-related barriers to healthy eating, such as Tanaka et al Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine (2018) 23:62.
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