The interaction between the community food environment and cooking skills in association with diet-related outcomes in Dutch adults

Abstract

Abstract Objective: We examined whether associations between the food environment, frequency of home cooking, diet quality and BMI were modified by the level of cooking skills. Design: Cross-sectional study using linear and modified Poisson regression models adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, education, income, household size and urbanisation. The frequency of home cooking was categorised into 0·1). Conclusions: Exposure to food stores was associated with a higher diet quality and exposure to restaurants with a lower BMI. Better cooking skills were associated with a higher frequency of home cooking and better diet quality but did not modify associations with the food environment. Future studies should explore different approaches to understand how individuals interact with their food environment.

Keywords

• Food environment
• Cooking skills
• Diet-related outcomes
• Diet quality
• BMI
• Frequency of home cooking