Cooking as a Health Behavior: Examining the Role of Cooking Classes in a Weight Loss Intervention.

Mattie Alpaugh,Lizzy Pope,Amy Trubek,Jean Harvey,Joan Skelly

doi:10.3390/nu12123669

Mattie Alpaugh, Lizzy Pope + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123669

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Abstract

Americans are cooking fewer meals at home and eating more convenience foods prepared elsewhere. Cooking at home is associated with higher quality diets, while a reduction in cooking may be associated with increases in obesity and risk factors for chronic disease. The aims of this study were to examine cooking as an intervention for weight control in overweight and obese adults, and whether such an intervention increases participants’ food agency and diet quality. Overweight and obese adults were randomized into one of two intervention conditions: active or demonstration. Both conditions received the same 24-week behavioral weight loss intervention, and bi-weekly cooking classes. The active condition prepared a weekly meal during a hands-on lesson, while the demonstration condition observed a chef prepare the same meal. The active condition lost significantly more weight at six months compared with the demonstration condition (7.3% vs. 4.5%). Both conditions saw significant improvements in food agency scores and Healthy Eating Index scores, though no significant differences were noted between groups. The addition of active cooking to a weight management intervention may improve weight loss outcomes, though benefits in diet quality and cooking behaviors may also be seen with the addition of a demonstration-only cooking intervention.

Highlights

Over the last twenty years, Americans’ eating habits have shifted, with fewer meals cooked at home and more meals eaten outside the home from restaurants, convenience stores, fast food locations, and cafeterias [1,2,3]
Americans still report spending more of their disposable income on food eaten at home, and at least 90% report at least sometimes cooking at home [9]
Participants in the active condition had lower body weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) on average compared with participants in the demonstration condition, though these differences were not significant

Summary

Introduction

Over the last twenty years, Americans’ eating habits have shifted, with fewer meals cooked at home and more meals eaten outside the home from restaurants, convenience stores, fast food locations, and cafeterias [1,2,3]. Regardless, it is clear that with innumerable options available to outsource cooking, this once necessary domestic behavior has declined in recent years in step with the rise of convenience food consumption [10]. Evidence suggests that adults who cook dinner frequently at home have diets lower in total energy, fat, and sugar than those who cooked less frequently at home [12]. In addition to research associating cooking at home with better diet quality, there is evidence that increasing one’s cooking knowledge and/or skill is associated with increased healthy food intake [13,14].

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