Association between commensality practices and healthy food consumption in Primary Care: a cross-sectional study,...

To verify association between adherence to the commensality practices recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population and healthy food consumption.

This is a cross-sectional study with adults attending Primary Health Care in Goiânia. The healthy food consumption score (0-7 points) was reached by assigning 1 point for each "yes" answer for consumption of three healthy food markers and for each "no" answer for consumption of four unhealthy food markers. The recommended commensality practices score (0-3 points) was assessed by the sum of the habits of eating screen-free meals, eating at the table, and eating in the company of others. Sociodemographic and behavioral variables were assessed. Quantile regression was performed with a 5% significance level.

A total of 783 overweight adults, mostly mixed race women, were assessed. Beans were the healthy marker (74.8%), and sugar-sweetened drinks were the unhealthy marker (52.1%) most consumed the previous day. Eating with others (77.3%) was the most prevalent commensality practice. The median healthy food consumption score was 5 (4-6), and the median recommended commensality practice score was 2 (1-3). Among women, for each increase in one recommended commensality practice undertaken, the healthy food consumption score increased by 0.42 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.18; 0.66) at the 10th percentile; by 0.31 (95% CI 0.13; 0.49) at the 25th percentile; by 0.17 (95%CI 0.04; 0.29) at the 50th percentile; and by 0.16 (95%CI 0.02-0.31) at the 75th percentile, but it was not associated with the 90th percentile. No associations were found among men.

Commensality practices recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population were associated with healthier food consumption in the sample of adult women in Primary Care.