November 09, 2021
2 min learn
Older girls who primarily ate alone had been extra prone to have angina and worse diet than those that ate with others, in keeping with a South Korean examine printed within the journal Menopause.
“Historically, consuming with others has been the norm in South Korea as a result of its sturdy collective tradition,” Han-Gyo Choi, PhD, RN, of the Catholic College of Korea’s School of Nursing in Seoul, and colleagues wrote. “Nevertheless, a rising variety of individuals are consuming alone as a result of elevated numbers of nuclear households and single-person households.”
Social distancing in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and food delivery services have solely added to this, the researchers mentioned.
Beforehand, consuming alone was discovered to negatively have an effect on psychological and bodily well being, so the researchers aimed to ascertain how consuming alone is expounded to CVD and diet.
Choi and colleagues analyzed information from 590 menopausal girls aged 65 years or older who self-reported sociodemographic traits, well being conduct traits, dietary standing and incidence of CVD and threat elements within the 2016 Korean Nationwide Well being and Vitamin Examination Survey VII-1.
Of girls who ate greater than two meals a day alone (EA), 79.7% had been widowed, and 81.1% of ladies who ate greater than two meals a day with others (EO) lived with their spouses. The EA group had a considerably decrease month-to-month common family earnings than the EO group ($1,597.10 vs. $2,253.56; P = .011).
Ladies within the EO group had been extra conscious of nutrition labels than these within the EA group (43.3% vs. 29.5%; P = .012). Additionally they extra usually used diet labels (8.5% vs. 3.8%; P = .014) and mentioned diet labels affected their meals selections (7% vs. 1.7%; P = .016). Smoking, perceived stress, alcohol consumption and cardio exercise didn’t considerably differ between the 2 teams.
The EO group had a considerably greater vitality consumption than the EA group, consuming 1,472.52 kcal, whereas the EA group solely consumed 1,357.67 kcal (P = .018). Additionally they had greater intakes of carbohydrates (264.15 g vs. 243.48 g; P = .012), dietary fiber (21.23 g vs. 18.91 g; P = .027), sodium (2,647 mg vs. 2,329.73 mg; P = .025) and potassium (2,521.1 mg vs. 2,213.58 mg; P = .013).
The researchers additionally discovered that the incidence price of angina was 2.58 occasions greater (95% CI, 1.2-5.55) within the EA group after adjusting for age, earnings, marital standing, cardio exercise and consciousness, and the use and affect of diet labels.
The examine’s limitations included its cross-sectional design, the researchers’ reliance on self-reported information and potential confounding elements could not have been accounted for within the evaluation, Choi and colleagues wrote. They really helpful a potential examine to research the connection between consuming alone and CVD threat.
“Outcomes of this examine demonstrated the significance of an consuming companion in older girls, which is likely to be helpful for establishing well being care and welfare insurance policies to think about diet schooling and heart problems screening for older girls who primarily eat alone,” the researchers wrote.
Perspective
Stephanie S. Faubion, MD, MBA, FACP, NCMP, IF
A latest cross-sectional examine involving the Korean Nationwide Well being and Vitamin Examination Survey VII-1 information from 2016 investigated the well being behaviors, diet standing and the probability of getting cardiovascular ailments in 590 older (≥ 65 years) menopausal girls in keeping with whether or not they ate alone (outlined as consuming greater than two meals per day alone) or ate with others. Outcomes confirmed that girls who ate alone had been much less conscious of diet labels, much less conscious of the affect of diet labels and fewer possible to make use of diet labels than those that ate with others. Older girls who ate alone additionally had decrease consumption of vitality (kcal), carbohydrate and fiber, and had been 2.58 occasions extra prone to have angina than their friends who ate with others.
Though it’s unclear what the mechanistic hyperlink between consuming alone and symptomatic coronary heart illness could also be, prior research have described ties between consuming alone and melancholy. Melancholy, in flip, has been related to physiologic modifications, together with nervous system activation, systemic irritation and hypercoagulability. Along with poorer dietary consumption, older girls who ate alone had been extra prone to be widowed and to have decrease incomes. These outcomes will not be stunning on condition that decrease socioeconomic standing and social isolation contribute to decrease high quality of life, better charges of melancholy and poorer well being. It’s possible that consuming alone is a proxy for social isolation which, as now we have discovered in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, locations people at elevated threat for each psychological and bodily well being points. Given that girls dwell longer than males do, discovering methods for older girls who’re socially remoted to have interaction and create significant social ties could not solely enhance their diet but in addition their total well being. Understanding the affect of social isolation from a broader perspective, together with well being and welfare issues in addition to the financial affect associated to elevated well being care expenditures, is required to deal with this necessary concern.
Stephanie S. Faubion, MD, MBA, FACP, NCMP, IF
Director, Mayo Clinic Ladies’s Well being
Medical Director, The North American Menopause Society
Disclosures: Faubion stories no related monetary disclosures.
