The Effect of Eating Alone and Eating with Familiar or Unfamiliar Others on Food Intake: A Systematic Review

@#Aims and Design: Individuals’ food intake may vary depending on their situation and with whom they are having their meal. Thus this systematic review aimed to compare the effect of social facilitation between eating alone and eating with others, and evaluate the social modeling effect when eating with familiar or unfamiliar others, on food intake. Data Sources: Articles were screened and reviewed based on titles, abstracts and keywords. Inclusion criteria included experimental design, English language, open-accessed, and published from 1980 until the review was conducted in 2018. Review Methods: Using the PRISMA method, potential studies were identified on Science Direct, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, and BASE databases using two different keywords combinations. Results: Seventeen studies were included. For social facilitation, seven studies found that food intake increases when eating alone while five others stated it would increase when eating with others. One study suggested that it increases in both situations. For social modeling of food intake, two studies found that it commonly occurs when an individual eats in the presence of unfamiliar others, while one study reported that it happens more often with familiar others. Two other studies observed that social modeling occurs in both situations. Conclusion and Impact: Food intake tends to increase when eating alone than eating with others while the presence of familiar or unfamiliar others may either increase or limit an individual’s food consumption to socially match their co-eaters’ intake. Thus, good self-control is crucial for setting a dietary limit regardless of whether ones are eating alone or with familiar or unfamiliar others.

Comparison of Dietary Behavior of Eating Alone in Single Households by Status of Workers and Age / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study compared the dietary behaviors of single-person households when eating alone according to the employment pattern and age. METHODS: A total of 566 people aged 20~59 years old were collected from the status of workers and classified into three groups according to their employment pattern (regular, non-regular workers and business owner). The subjects were collected by purposive quota sampling on a Gallup panel from June to November in 2017. The dietary behavior and perception of eating alone of the subjects were surveyed via online and self-reported questionnaires. RESULTS: The frequency of eating alone was significantly higher in the regular group than the non-regular group and business group (p<0.01). The place of eating alone was significantly higher in the regular and non-regular group in the convenience store, and business group in the office (p<0.001). Ramen, the menu when eating alone, was significantly higher in the non-regular group than the other groups (p<0.01). The preference for eating alone was lower in the older age group (p<0.05). The young aged group (aged 20~30) ate more fast food and felt more convenience than the older aged group aged 40~50 years (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Single-person households with a non-regular job have poorer dietary behavior in eating alone than those who had regular employment. In a situation of an increasing number of non-regular workers aged in their 20s and 30s, there is a high likelihood of social problems, such as health and poverty. This study highlights the need for a healthy food selection environment to improve the dietary life of single-person households with non-regular jobs for the diverse types of single-person households.

Association between Eating Alone and Metabolic Syndrome: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The aim of this study was to construct and test a structural equation model for the risk factors of metabolic syndrome in Korean adults. The structural equation model hypothesizes that eating alone and feeling depressed is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome. The data of this study were obtained from the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which was cross-sectional data from the representative national survey. A total of 4,013 subjects replied to the survey item of lifestyle and completed the physical examinations among adults aged 19 years or older in South Korea was in 2015. The structural model in this study was composed of four latent variables: eating alone, depression, negative health behavior, and metabolic syndrome. Two variables, the rate of eating alone and depression, were exogenous variables. Negative health behavior was both a mediating variable and endogenous variable, and metabolic syndrome was the final endogenous variable. The data were analyzed using the Maximum Likelihood method and bootstrapping. The structural model was appropriate for the data based on the model fit indices. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: Eating alone is a direct risk factor of metabolic syndrome in Korean women. Depression can mediate metabolic syndrome through negative health behaviors. Negative health behavior had a direct impact on metabolic syndrome in both men and women. This study may be a guideline for interventions and strategies to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome in Korean adults.

Associations of the eating alone behavior with nutrient intake, obesity and metabolic syndrome in middle-aged adults based on the 2013 ~ 2017 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: This study examined the changes in the nutrient intake and the prevalences of obesity and metabolic syndrome according to the eating alone behavior in middle-aged men and women. METHODS: The data from the 2013 ~ 2017 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. A total of 7,728 adults (3,404 male, 4,324 female) aged 40 ~ 64 years old were included. The subjects were classified into three groups according to the number of times eating alone per day (0, 1 ~ 2, and 3 times/day). Dietary data were collected by a 1-day 24-h recall. The nutrient intakes were compared among the three groups. Survey logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of the eating alone behavior with obesity and metabolic syndrome, adjusting for the related confounding variables. RESULTS: In men, eating alone was associated significantly with a lower intake of potassium (p-for-trend = 0.048) and lower intake of calories from protein (p-for-trend = 0.04). In women, the proportion of subjects consuming energy less than 75% of the estimated energy requirement (p = 0.001) and less than the estimated adequate requirement of riboflavin (p < 0.001) differed significantly according to the eating alone behavior. The eating alone behavior was positively associated with an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome (p-for-trend = 0.033), increased blood pressure (p-for-trend < 0.001), and increased waist circumference (p-for-trend = 0.004). On the other hand, in women, however, the eating alone behavior was associated with a decreased risks of developing obesity (p-for-trend = 0.02). No association was found between the eating alone behavior and the risk of metabolic syndrome in women. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the eating alone behavior is a risk factor for the development of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged Korean men.

Impact of Eating-Alone on Depression in Korean Female Elderly : Findings from the Sixth and Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2014 and 2016 / 우울ㆍ조울병

OBJECTIVES: Despite the lack of domestic research, eating alone has been reported to be related to depression. We investigated correlation between eating alone, and depression, among women age 65 and older.METHODS: Among women registered in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 1,119 elderly in 2014, and 1,189 in 2016, were analyzed. Eating alone and the degree of depression were assessed, using a questionnaire and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 respectively. The relationship between eating alone and depression, was analyzed using multilevel logistic regression.RESULTS: In 2014 data, eating alone had significant effect on depression, as the explanatory power is increased to 30.4% in a ‘three meals eating alone a day’ group (β=0.128, p < 0.05), when the eating alone parameter is added to demographic factors and health characteristics. In 2016, exploitation of ‘the frequency of eating alone’ variable led to increment of explanatory power to 22.3%, that was not statistically significant.CONCLUSION: The result of this study suggests that eating alone among women age 65 and older, was a risk factor of depression in 2014, and is becoming a new life pattern as a social and cultural phenomenon in 2016.

Effect of Eating with Family or Alone on the Self-rated Mental or Physical Health: The Elementary School Children in Daejeon Area / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of eating with family or alone on the self-rated mental or physical health and then work out strategies of making people recognize the importance of eating with family and its practice. Study subjects were 610 primary school 5th- and 6th-grade students in Daejeon Area. A questionnaire survey was carried out. 57.9% of students had working mothers. The frequency of meal in a day was 2.90 +/- 0.42 and this frequency was lower in students who had working mothers (p < 0.05). The frequency of skipping breakfast (times/week) was 1.02 +/- 1.77. The frequencies of eating alone (times/week) were 1.04 +/- 1.65 for breakfast and 0.97 +/- 1.52 for dinner. Also, the frequency of eating alone for dinner was higher in students who had working mothers (p < 0.001). When the frequency of eating alone for breakfast or dinner was higher, the frequencies of skipping breakfast and dinner were also higher (for all, p < 0.01). When the frequency of eating alone for breakfast or dinner was higher, the self-rated positive mental health were lower (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively) and the self-rated negative mental health (for dinner, p < 0.05) and the self-rated negative physical health was higher (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively), thus presenting negative health. The frequencies of eating with family (times/week) were 3.37 +/- 2.50 for breakfast and 4.14 +/- 2.19 for dinner. Also, the frequency of eating with family for dinner was lower in students who had working mothers (p < 0.01). When the frequency of eating with family for breakfast was higher, the frequency of skipping breakfast was lower (p < 0.01). When the frequency of eating with family for dinner was higher, the frequency of skipping dinner was lower (p < 0.01). In addition, when the frequency of eating with family for breakfast or dinner was higher, the self-rated positive mental health were higher (for both, p < 0.01) and the self-rated negative mental health was lower (for breakfast, p < 0.01) and self-rated negative physical health were lower (for both, p < 0.01), thus presenting positive health. Therefore, in order to maintain positive health, it is necessary to recognize the importance of eating with family at home and educate people to carry out a systematic and continuous dietary life, thus increasing eating with family and reducing eating alone and skipping a meal.