Abstract
BackgroundSocial support is an important health determinant and may affect dietary behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between perceived social support and the Chinese Diet Balance Index-16 (DBI-16) among ethnic minority groups in Southwest China.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted between May 2019 and August 2020 among six ethnic minority groups native to Yunnan Province (n = 3564). Perceived social support from family, friends and significant others were measured with the Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Dietary data were obtained using a 100-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and a lifestyle questionnaire. Lower Bound Score (LBS), Higher Bound Score (HBS) and Diet Quality Distance (DQD) which represent inadequate, excessive and unbalanced food intake respectively were calculated to measure the compliance with the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese 2016.ResultsOne thousand four hundred ninety-six men and two thousand sixty-eight women were included. 51.2% of the subjects had moderate or high levels of inadequate intake; 21.3% had moderate or high levels of excessive intake; and 74.0% had moderate or high levels of unbalanced dietary intake. With potential confounders adjusted, support from family was negatively associated with inadequate intake, while support from friends was positively associated with inadequate and excessive intake. No significant associations were found between perceived social support from significant others and diet quality indicators.ConclusionsAn unbalanced diet is common among adults of the ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Social support should be taken into account in designing nutrition interventions rather than focusing solely on individuals.
Highlights
Social support is an important health determinant and may affect dietary behaviors
Another study from Switzerland reported that women who dined more often with healthy eaters were on a higher diet quality and a lower body mass index (BMI) [15]
We examined the associations between sources of perceived social support and Diet Balance Index-16 (DBI-16) among adults of six ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province
Summary
Social support is an important health determinant and may affect dietary behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between perceived social support and the Chinese Diet Balance Index-16 (DBI-16) among ethnic minority groups in Southwest China. To promote healthy eating behaviors among the public, some countries have developed dietary guidelines based on scientific evidence and local dietary habits [7, 8] Dietary indexes such as Healthy Eating Index (HEI) for Americans and Diet Balance Index (DBI) for Chinese, have been constructed to measure how well individual diets meet recommendations of the guidelines [9, 10]. Another study from Switzerland reported that women who dined more often with healthy eaters were on a higher diet quality and a lower body mass index (BMI) [15]. These findings suggest that social networks may have a shared perception of healthy eating, which would influence individual’s dietary practices. Individual’s social relationships would be an important consideration for healthy eating promotion
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