Food insecurity is associated with low diet quality and unhealthy cooking and eating habits in Iranian women

Table 6 Eating habits in different food security levels^1,2

	Secure (n = 81)	Mild insecure (n = 77)	Moderate/severe insecure (n = 32)	P value³
Breakfast frequency (n/week)	5.9 ± 2.0	5.3 ± 2.1	3.4 ± 2.5	< 0.001
Lunch frequency (n/week)	6.8 ± 0.7	7.0 ± 0.1	6.7 ± 0.9	0.007
Dinner frequency (n/week)	6.1 ± 1.6	6.0 ± 1.5	5.8 ± 1.4	0.083
Meal frequency (n/day)	2.7 ± 0.4	2.6 ± 0.4	2.3 ± 0.5	< 0.001
Snack frequency (n/day)	1.9 ± 1.0	1.6 ± 1.1	1.2 ± 0.6	0.001
Fried foods (n/week)	2.8 ± 1.7	3.5 ± 1.7	4.1 ± 2.1	0.001
Fast foods (n/week)	1.7 ± 1.4	2.8 ± 2.5	5.2 ± 3.9	< 0.001
Main cooking method
Boiling	48 (59.3)	23 (29.9)	10 (31.2)	0.001
Frying	33 (40.7)	54 (70.1)	22 (68.8)
Method of cooking rice
Pilaf	30 (37.0)	22 (28.6)	1 (3.1)	0.005
Draining	51 (63.0)	55 (71.4)	31 (96.9)
Tea after meals
Yes	21 (25.9)	41 (53.3)	18 (56.2)	0.001
No	60 (74.1)	36 (46.7)	14 (43.8)

¹ Scores of food security are as follows: food secure (0–1), mild food-insecure (2–8), moderate/severe food-insecure (9–27). ² Data are presented as means ± SD. ³P value was determined by one-way analysis of variance or chi-square (for the last 3 items)

ISSN: 2072-1315