How eating alone affects the eating habits of older Swedes

In a recently published study BMC Public Health, Researchers are investigating the subjective experiences and eating habits of older Swedes who mostly eat their meals alone.

Study: The influence of eating alone on food intake and daily eating habits: A cross-sectional study of community-dwelling 70- to 75-year-olds in Sweden. Image credit: Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com

The health benefits of commensality

Eating is essential for human survival, health and social organization. Previous research has found several benefits of eating in company, leading health policymakers in many countries to advise their citizens to eat meals together whenever possible. This advice comes from studies examining a concept called “commensality,” which has been observed to improve both physiological and psychosocial outcomes, particularly in individuals aged 60 years and older.

Unfortunately, most of this research objectively operationalizes the abstract concept of commensality, raising many theoretical and empirical problems. A major limitation is the failure to take into account individual differences in the subjective perception or feeling of eating alone. Although some people feel lonely or lose interest in cooking and eating, others remain unaffected.

Most published literature does not examine the subjective aspects of commensality and instead focuses exclusively on its measurable effects, such as physical and mental health. The Swedish population represents an ideal study cohort to fill these knowledge gaps, as approximately 30% of older Swedes live alone. In addition, Swedish residents report the lowest incidence of subjective loneliness among European countries.

About the study

The researchers used a self-reported, survey-based, cross-sectional study design to examine the associations between eating alone and diet-related outcomes. The study focused on community-dwelling Swedish citizens aged between 70 and 75 years, randomly selected from the Swedish National Personal Address Register.

The current study was conducted between November 2021 and January 2022. 1,500 people were invited to participate. Respondents who lived in a long-term care facility or suffered from clinically diagnosed dementia were excluded from the study.

Relevant data included objective and subjective measures of eating alone, diet-related effects, demographic data such as year of birth, gender, housing and marital status, and medical history including general health status, chronic diseases, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI).

Statistical analysis included linear regression models to compare participants who ate alone and those who practiced commensality. Models were adjusted for demographic variables and independently for subjective responses to eating alone.

Study results

Of the 1,500 participants invited to participate, 695 responded, met the inclusion criteria, and were included in the final analysis. The evaluations of the included participants showed an almost even distribution of gender and age.

About 75% of the people studied lived in a cohabitation group, while 25% reported living alone. This was associated with eating alone or together, as most people living in a cohabitation group ate together, while most people living alone also ate alone. People who reported eating alone did not report any negative subjective feelings about their eating habits; however, a small proportion reported feeling disturbed by eating alone.

About 72% of respondents participated in a shared meal at least once a day. Of the 28% of study participants who ate alone, most were women.

When evaluating the food index results, almost no differences were found between the two cohorts. The only statistically significant differences were observed in the respondents eating alone, who consumed fewer vegetables, snacks, sweet drinks and sugary foods than the participants in the commensality cohort.

In contrast, the frequency of daily food intake was highly dependent on the cohort. About 59% of the commensality cohort reported eating at least three main meals per day, while 56% of the sole eater cohort reported eating two or fewer meals per day. The sole eater cohort reported a higher proportion of ready-to-eat convenience foods than the commensality cohort.

Conclusions

The present study differs from previous studies in that it did not find any health or subjective benefits of commensality compared to eating alone. The lack of an association in this study may be due to the high fitness, independence and low loneliness potential of older Swedish citizens compared to those in other European countries.

The study highlights the association between eating alone and both fewer main meals per day and a higher consumption of convenience foods. These results suggest that eating alone had a greater impact on the organization of daily meal routines than on the quality or nutritional health of the food consumed.