Food literacy and eating motivation in relation to diet quality and general and abdominal obesity

A cross-sectional study

Bibliographic Data

ID11357046
AuthorsKentaro Murakami (0000-0002-4189-7753, Department of Health, corresponding author), Nana Shinozaki (0000-0002-8998-5066, The University of Tokyo), M Barbara E Livingstone (0000-0001-5687-4530, University of Ulster), Shizuko Masayasu, Satoshi Sasaki (0000-0002-6419-4495, The University of Tokyo)
Year2025
Volume209
Pages107968
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAppetite (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0195-6663 • E-ISSN: 1095-8304
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.appet.2025.107968
PMID40089114
OpenAlexW4408389467
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited66

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the associations of food literacy and eating motivation with diet quality and obesity. Participants were 1055 Japanese adults aged 20–69 years. The self-perceived food literacy scale was used to assess food literacy (food preparation skills, resilience and resistance, healthy snack styles, social and conscious eating, examining food labels, daily food planning, healthy budgeting, and healthy food stockpiling). The Eating Motivation Survey was used to assess eating motives (liking, habits, need and hunger, health, convenience, pleasure, traditional eating, natural concerns, sociability, price, visual appeal, weight control, affect regulation, social norms, and social image). Diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2020) was assessed based on 4-day weighed dietary records. After adjustment for potential confounders, higher scores for food preparation skills (β 0.64), healthy snack styles (β 1.62), examining food labels (β 0.72), healthy budgeting (β 0.71), and natural concerns motive (β 0.75) and lower scores for convenience (β -0.45) and pleasure (β -0.62) motives were significantly associated with a higher diet quality. In contrast, higher scores for liking (odds ratio (OR) 1.32) and weight control (OR 1.19) motives and lower scores for resilience and resistance (OR 0.76), daily food planning (OR 0.84), and health motive (OR 0.67) were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥90 cm for males; ≥80 cm for females); all of these variables (except for daily food planning) were also associated with general obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m 2 ). In conclusion, the food literacy domains and eating motives associated with diet quality differed from those associated with obesity. The findings have important implications for effective strategies to improve diet quality and combat the obesity epidemic

Abdominal obesity · Biology · Cross-sectional study · Developmental psychology · Environmental health · Literacy · Metabolic syndrome · Obesity · Physics · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Medicine · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Psychology · Endocrinology · Food Science

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