Frequency of eating home cooked meals and potential benefits for diet and health: cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort study

Mills, Susanna; Brown, Heather; Wrieden, Wendy; White, Martin; Adams, Jean

doi:10.1186/s12966-017-0567-y

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Table 1 Characteristics of participants overall and by frequency of consuming home cooked meals

From: Frequency of eating home cooked meals and potential benefits for diet and health: cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort study

Covariate^a		Consumption of home cooked main meals
		Total	<3×/week	3-5×/week	>5×/week
		n = 11,396 (100.00%)	n = 704 (6.18%)	n = 3688 (32.36%)	n = 7004 (61.46%)
Sex	Male	5321	389 (7.31)	1914 (35.97)	3018 (56.72)
Sex	Female	6075	315 (5.19)	1774 (29.20)	3986 (65.61)
Age (years)	Median (IQR)	48.9 (42.7, 54.8)	47.1 (41.7, 53.3)	48.3 (42.2, 53.9)	49.5 (43.1, 55.3)
Alcohol (grams/day)	Median (IQR)	5.47 (1.27, 10.72)	3.90 (0.76, 9.56)	5.47 (1.30, 10.56)	5.47 (1.27, 10.88)
Age at leaving full-time education (years)	≤16	4570	351 (7.68)	1709 (37.40)	2510 (54.92)
	>16 to ≤18	2521	148 (5.87)	839 (33.28)	1534 (60.85)
	>18	4305	205 (4.76)	1140 (26.48)	2960 (68.76)
Smoker	No	10,045	569 (5.66)	3133 (31.19)	6343 (63.15)
Smoker	Yes	1351	135 (9.99)	555 (41.08)	661 (48.93)
Family History of diabetes^b	No	8677	535 (6.17)	2796 (32.22)	5346 (61.61)
Family History of diabetes^b	Yes	2719	169 (6.22)	892 (32.81)	1658 (60.98)
Physical activity (kJ^c/kg^d/day)	Median (IQR)	51.00 (37.84, 66.75)	49.64 (35.82, 65.82)	51.57 (38.22, 67.64)	50.89 (37.88, 66.27)
Working in past 4 weeks	No	1959	118 (6.02)	563 (28.74)	1278 (65.24)
Working in past 4 weeks	Yes	9437	586 (6.21)	3125 (33.11)	5726 (60.68)
Working hours	Median (IQR)	33.0 (14.0, 40.0)	37.0 (20.0, 43.7)	35.0 (17.5, 41.0)	30.0 (12.0, 40.0)
Overtime work (>48 h/week)	No	10,116	592 (5.85)	3243 (32.06)	6281 (62.09)
Overtime work (>48 h/week)	Yes	1280	112 (8.75)	445 (34.77)	723 (56.48)
Outcomeⁱ
Vitamin C (umol/l^e)	Median (IQR)	69.40 (56.00, 82.00)	63.15 (44.73, 77.38)	66.80 (52.70, 80.10)	71.1 (58.5, 83.4)
Fruit intake (grams/day)	Median (IQR)	207.10 (111.61, 329.50)	142.53 (60.08, 264.19)	180.53 (93.10, 293.10)	226.83 (131.16, 353.04)
Vegetable intake (grams/day)	Median (IQR)	258.95 (188.89, 348.56)	174.41 (111.92, 257.26)	234.59 (172.55, 310.33)	280.56 (209.53, 375.83)
DASH score^f	Median (IQR)	24 (21, 27)	22 (19, 25)	23 (20, 26)	25 (22, 28)
MDS^g	Median (IQR)	9 (7,11)	7 (6, 10)	8 (6, 10)	10 (7, 11)
Excess body fat (≥25% men; ≥38% women)	No	4831	246 (5.09)	1399 (28.96)	3186 (65.95)
Excess body fat (≥25% men; ≥38% women)	Yes	6565	458 (6.98)	2289 (34.87)	3818 (58.16)
Overweight BMI^h (≥25.0)	No	4384	211 (4.81)	1290 (29.43)	2883 (65.76)
Overweight BMI^h (≥25.0)	Yes	7012	493 (7.03)	2398 (34.20)	4121 (58.77)
High cholesterol ratio (≥4.0)	No	7234	400 (5.53)	2209 (30.54)	4625 (63.93)
High cholesterol ratio (≥4.0)	Yes	4162	304 (7.30)	1479 (35.54)	2379 (57.16)
High HbA_1c ⁱ(≥42.00)	No	10,207	608 (5.96)	3265 (31.99)	6334 (62.06)
High HbA_1c ⁱ(≥42.00)	Yes	1189	96 (8.07)	423 (35.58)	670 (56.35)
Hypertension	No	8561	516 (6.03)	2761 (32.25)	5283 (61.72)
Hypertension	Yes	2836	188 (6.63)	927 (32.69)	1721 (60.68)

^aResults shown as number (row percentage). Median (inter-quartile range) shown for: age, alcohol, physical activity, average working hours, vitamin C, fruit intake, vegetable intake, DASH score, MDS
^bHistory of diabetes in first degree relative
^ckj = kilojoules
^dkg = kilograms
^eumol/l = micromole/l
^fDASH = Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension
^gMDS = Mediterranean Diet Score
^hBMI = body mass index
ⁱHbA_1c = Haemoglobin A_1c

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ISSN: 1479-5868

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