Food Intake, Source, and Planning and Shopping Behavior Differences Among Hispanic, White, Black, and Asian Females

Abdominal obesity remains a high public health concern. Within the United States, there are noted disparities among different ethnic/racial groups in relation to obesity, especially for females.

The purpose of this secondary analysis project was to examine the differences in nutritional intake, food sources, and meal planning and food shopping between Hispanic, White, Black, and Asian females by abdominal obesity level in the United States.

The 2017-2018 National Health Nutrition Examination data was used. Major variables included race/ethnicity, waist circumference (WC), nutritional intake, food source, and food shopping and meal planning behaviors. Descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, a series of two-way factorial analysis of variance, and odds ratio analyses were conducted to address research questions.

When comparing nutritional intake and food source by different racial/ethnic groups and abdominal obesity level, there were no interaction effects for all categories across groups. However, for the racial/ethnic main effects and obesity main effects, significant differences among groups were noted for nutritional intake and food source categories. There were no differences in food shopping and meal preparation between abdominal obesity and non-obese participants in each racial/ethnic group.

Similarities and differences were noted between racial/ethnic groups for nutritional intake and sources of food. However, no significant differences were noted between racial/ethnic groups for food shopping and meal preparation behaviors. More research should be done to confirm these findings and further understand food shopping and meal preparation behaviors.