Melissa N. Laska|Nicole Larson|Dianne Neumark?Sztainer|Mary Story
Does involvement in food preparation track from adolescence to young adulthood and is it associated with better dietary quality? Findings from a 10-year longitudinal study
University of Minnesota|University of Minnesota|University of Minnesota|University of Minnesota
examine whether involvement food preparation tracks time adolescence 1518 years emerging adulthood 1923 years midtolate twenties 2428 years well 10year longitudinal associations home food preparation dietary quality meal patterningpopulationbased longitudinal cohort studyparticipants originally sampled minnesota public secondary schools usaparticipants enrolled project eat eating among teens young adultsi eatii eatiii n 1321most participants midtolate twenties reported enjoyment cooking 73 males 80 females however prepared meals including vegetables days week 24 males 41 females participants midtolate twenties enjoyed cooking likely engaged food preparation adolescents emerging adults p 001 frequently prepared meals including vegetables likely engaged food preparation emerging adults p 0001 adolescents emerging adult food preparation predicted better dietary quality five years later midtolate twenties including higher intakes fruit vegetables dark greenorange vegetables less sugarsweetened beverage fastfood consumption associations adolescent food preparation later dietary quality yielded significant resultsfood preparation behaviours appeared track time engagement food preparation emerging adulthood adolescence associated healthier dietary intake midtolate twenties intervention studies needed understand whether promoting healthy food preparation results improvements eating patterns transition adulthood