Characterizing eating patterns: a comparison of eating occasion definitions

Area of Science:

• Nutrition science
• Dietary assessment
• Public health

Background:

• Standardized definitions for eating occasions (EOs) are lacking, hindering research.
• Existing approaches to defining EOs vary, potentially influencing study outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how different definitions of eating occasions (EOs) influence the characterization of eating patterns.
• To compare various EO definitions using Australian dietary data.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of cross-sectional dietary data from the 2011-12 Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (n=5242 adults).
• Application of eight EO definitions: participant-identified, time-of-day, and six neutral definitions with varying time intervals and energy criteria.
• Estimation of meal, snack, and total EO frequencies and energy intake, with statistical comparisons across definitions, stratified by sex and age.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in mean meal and EO frequencies were observed across various definitions.
• High agreement for snack frequency but low agreement for meal frequency between participant-identified and time-of-day definitions.
• A neutral definition (15-min interval + energy criterion) demonstrated the strongest prediction of variance in total energy intake (19.3-27.8%).

Conclusions:

• The definition of eating occasions significantly impacts the characterization of eating patterns.
• Neutral definitions appear more effective in predicting energy intake variance.
• Further research is needed to establish a consensus standard for EO definitions, particularly concerning health outcome associations.