Health cooking at home: can cooking skills reduce gastrointestinal symptoms, cross sectional study?

The acquisition of healthy nutrition habits plays an important role in the solution of gastrointestinal symptoms, and it was recently shown that the cooking skills were the main determinant in the development of these behaviors. Accordingly, this study was planned and conducted with an aim to investigate the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and cooking skills.

This cross-sectional study included 328 individuals aged 18-35 years with 84.1% female, 15.9% male. Descriptive information, food consumption records, cooking skills and gastrointestinal symptom scale scores of the individuals were recorded by the researchers by means of face-to-face interviews.

The gastrointestinal symptoms and cooking skills scale scores were 38.75 ± 15.74 and 157.95 ± 37.18, respectively. Higher gastrointestinal symptom scale scores were associated with lower daily protein, dietary fiber, and vitamin B6, B12, and C intake (p < 0.05). Abdominal pain status was negatively associated with total score of cooking skills scale and cooking method, food preparation skills, and meal planning-preparation subscale scores, where reflux status were negatively associated with cooking skills total scale score and cooking method, meal planning-preparation, and label reading subscale scores, and diarrhea status was negatively associated with label reading subscale score (p < 0.05).

Gastrointestinal symptoms may affect daily protein, dietary fiber and vitamin B₆, B₁₂ and C intake, yet cooking skills may have a protective effect against gastrointestinal symptoms.