Abstract
Dietary behavior is a critical lifestyle factor affecting health. This study aimed to investigate food away from home (FAFH) and its effect on gastrointestinal (GI) health. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with 300 participants at a hospital in Liouying, Taiwan. The survey collected demographic information and data on FAFH and GI health. The association of GI health with FAFH consumption behavior was significant (t-test, p < 0.05). Bodyweight status was associated with age (F = 5.01, p = 0.01), dietary situation (F = 1.96, p = 0.04), number of meals (F = 1.85, p = 0.03), dietary preferences (F = 2.84, p = 0), reasons for FAFH (F = 1.86, p = 0.02), FAFH types (F = 2.01, p = 0), and outcomes associated with FAFH (F = 2.51, p = 0). Gastrointestinal condition was associated with the number of meals (F = 2.55, p = 0), the level of activity after meals (F = 2.16, p = 0.02), and FAFH type (F = 1.48, p = 0.04). The results indicated that the participants aged 20–40 years had more problems related to their self-perceived body weight status than those aged 41–50 years. The results of this study clarify the FAFH among people in Taiwan and the effects on GI health and may serve as a reference for relevant behavioral research in food and health studies.
Highlights
Economic development and changes in lifestyle and diseases have an impact on health demands [1, 2]; investigating the relationship between dietary behavior as one major component of lifestyle and human health is critical
The results of the survey showed that dietary situation, number of meals, dining situation, level of activity after meals, dietary preferences, reason of food away from home (FAFH), FAFH types, and outcomes associated with FAFH were significantly different among the participants (Table 2)
Significant differences were observed in the dietary situation, the number of meals, dietary preferences, reasons for FAFH, FAFH types, and outcomes associated with FAFH in relation to body weight status (p < 0.05)
Summary
Economic development and changes in lifestyle and diseases have an impact on health demands [1, 2]; investigating the relationship between dietary behavior as one major component of lifestyle and human health is critical. Economic development and lifestyle changes have led to an increasing number of people consuming food away from home (FAFH) [3,4,5]. Dietary behavior is a major lifestyle factor affecting health [8,9,10,11,12]; relevant studies have reported that nutritional knowledge affects the lifestyle of people and may even cause health risks because of the correlation between dietary behaviors and lifestyle [13,14,15,16]. Food away from home has been reported to shift with social changes and dietary development, among those aged >50 years [4, 10]. Researchers have suggested that awareness of healthy diets with respect to FAFH should be promoted among older people because of the health
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