Journal List > Korean J Community Nutr > v.24(6) > 1140550

Choi, Park, and Kim: Home Meal Replacement Use and Eating Habits of Adults in One-Person Households

Abstract

Objectives

The rise of one-person households may have consequences for food consumption patterns, and eating habits. This study investigated the home meal replacement (HMR) use and eating habits among adults in their 20s-30s living in one-person households.

Methods

A total of 247 adults aged 26–39 years participated in this study. The subjects were divided into three group according to the household type; one-person households (n=80), two-person households (n=49), and multi-family (three and more members) households (n=118). Their use of HMRs (classified as ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, and fresh convenience foods) and their eating habits were all compared.

Results

The mean age of the subjects was 30.5 years, 47.8% were male, and there was no significant difference in age, gender, occupation, and monthly income according to the type of household. The intake frequency of total HMR and ready-to-eat foods was significantly higher in one-person households among the three groups. People in one-person households consumed more HMRs alone, and spent more money to buy HMRs. Undesirable dietary habit scores like unbalanced eating (p<0.05) and eating salty foods (p<0.05) were significantly higher in the one-person households. Among the total subjects, the unbalanced eating scores showed a significant positive correlation with the intake frequency of ready-toeat foods, while the unbalanced eating scores showed negative correlation with the preference of fresh convenience foods. The scores for eating salty foods showed a significant positive correlation with the intake frequency and preference of ready-to-eat foods and ready-to-cook foods, while there was negative correlation with the intake frequency and preference of fresh convenience foods.

Conclusions

Adults in their 20s–30s in one-person households consumed more ready-to-eat foods than those in multi-family households. In addition, people with one-person households had more unbalanced diets and ate more salty foods, and these undesirable eating habits showed a significant positive correlation with the use of ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook foods. These results should be addressed for producing healthier ready-to-eat/ready-to-cook foods and implementing nutrition education for making healthy food choices of one-person households, which are steadily increasing.

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of the subjects according to household type

kjcn-24-476-i001

1) Mean ± standard deviation.

2) n (%).

Table 2

Home meal replacement use of the subjects according to household type

kjcn-24-476-i002

1) Mean ± standard deviation.

2) Preference score: strongly dislike (1) ~ strongly like (5).

3) Different superscript letters in a row indicate significant difference at α=0.05 by Duncan's multiple range test.

Table 3

Eating behaviors related to home meal replacement of the subjects according to household type

kjcn-24-476-i003

1) n (%).

HMR: Home Meal Replacement.

Table 4

Undesirable eating habits of the subjects according to household type

kjcn-24-476-i004

1) Mean ± standard deviation. Score: strongly disagree (1) ~ strongly agree (5).

2) Different superscript letters in a row indicate significant difference at α=0.05 by Duncan's multiple range test.

Table 5

Correlation between home meal replacement use and undesirable eating habits of the subjects (n=247)

kjcn-24-476-i005

1) Correlation coefficient (r) adjusted by age, sex, job, number of family members, residence type, and monthly income of the subjects

*: p<0.05, **: p<0.01, ***: p<0.001.

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TOOLS
ORCID iDs

Mi-Kyeong Choi
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6227-4053

Eun-Sun Park
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2967-4781

Mi-Hyun Kim
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0805-0630

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