Attitudes towards healthful, inexpensive and convenient foods in relation to multiple measures of diet quality among Seattle-King County adults, WA

Background/Objectives: Socioeconomic disparities in diet quality are well established. Food-related attitudes may play an important role in this relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of attitude towards healthful foods, in combination with attitude towards inexpensive and convenient foods, in predicting diet quality.;Subjects/Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of the Seattle Obesity Study I (SOS I), a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of 2,001 male and female adult residents of King County, WA, conducted from 2008-2009. Detailed self-reported data on socio-demographic and attitude variables were collected via telephone survey. Dietary data was obtained using Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ). Diet quality outcome measures were Healthy Eating Index (HEI), as well as self-reported measure of meeting USDA recommended 5-A-Day servings of fruits and vegetables.;Results: Positive attitudes towards the importance of food health were associated with higher total HEI scores, HEI2 (non-juice fruit) scores, HEI3 (vegetable) scores and proportion meeting 5-A-Day recommendations. Positive attitudes towards the importance of healthful food were associated with higher diet quality scores when inexpensive food was important versus when it was not. Positive attitudes towards the importance of healthful food were associated with mixed diet quality outcomes when convenient food was important versus when it was not.;Conclusion: Food-related attitudes across socioeconomic strata play a significant role in determining diet quality. However, food-related attitudes do not work in isolation. Further research is needed to fully understand the role of various attitude variables in combination with each other in explaining socioeconomic disparities in diets and health.