Food Resource Management and Healthy Eating Focus Associates with Diet Quality and Health Behaviors in Low-Income Adults

Abstract

Nutrition education and food resource management (FRM) can assist food-insecure individuals in acquiring healthy and affordable food. We aimed to assess the relationships between FRM skills and healthy eating focus with diet quality and health-related behaviors in low-income adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey of 276 low-income adults living in a low-food-access community in Northeast Connecticut. Through analysis of covariance, adults who usually or always had a meal plan, considered reading nutrition labels important, made a grocery list, were concerned about their food healthiness, and rated their diet quality as very good/excellent reported higher diet quality (frequency-based and liking-based scores) (p < 0.05 for all). Individuals who considered reading food labels very important and reported having a good diet reported less frequent pandemic-related unhealthy behaviors (consumption of candy and snack chips, soda or sugary drinks, weight gain, smoking) (p < 0.001). Furthermore, higher-frequency-based diet quality was associated with lower risk of overweight or obesity (OR: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.76; p-trend < 0.01). Thus, FRM skills and healthy eating focus were associated with higher diet quality and healthier self-reported changes in diet, weight, and smoking behaviors during the pandemic.