Does mindful eating affect the diet quality of adults?

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine the relationship between mindful eating and diet quality among adults in Turkey. MethodsA total of 207 adults, 138 women (66.7% of 207) and 69 men (33.3%), participated. This cross-sectional survey was carried out among adults aged 20–50 y. The following data were collected from face-to-face interviews: sociodemographic variables, health information, nutritional habits, anthropometric measurements, 24-h dietary records, and scores from the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), and Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015). ResultsThe mean MEDAS scores of females were higher than those of males (P = 0.012). The mean HEI-2015 scores did not significantly differ between females and males (P > 0.05). The mean scores of the MEQ (P = 0.024) and its disinhibition (P = 0.005) and emotional eating (P = 0.000) subfactors were higher in males than in females. The MEQ mean score was negatively associated with daily energy (P = 0.038), carbohydrate (P = 0.046), and fat intake (P = 0.036). As the MEQ mean score increased, the greens and beans score (P = 0.009) and dairy intake score (P = 0.031) increased. A positive correlation was present between the eating discipline subfactor of the MEQ score and both the HEI-2015 (P = 0.002) and MEDAS mean scores (P = 0.001). However, no significant correlation was found between the mean MEQ and HEI-2015 scores and the MEDAS mean scores (P > 0.05). ConclusionsDeveloping mindful eating might be helpful for individual health promotion and quality of life by providing improvements in diet quality of adults.