Associations of childhood and adult socioeconomic circumstances with recommended food habits among young and midlife Finnish employees

Background Disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances are associated with certain unhealthy food habits such as inadequate consumption of fruit and vegetables. This study examined whether multiple socioeconomic measures are consistently associated with a variety of food habits. Methods We examined associations of 2 childhood and 6 adult socioeconomic measures with 8 recommended food habits among 19-39-year-old employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland. The data were collected in 2017 via online and mailed surveys. Our sample consisted of 4621 employees (80% women). The analyses included adjusted binary logistic regression models. Results More advantaged socioeconomic circumstances were positively associated with the recommended consumption of vegetables, fruit or berries, dark bread, skimmed milk products, fish, and cooking oil, but not consistently with red or processed meat and fat spread. All socioeconomic measures were positively associated with having several (6-8) recommended food habits after gender and age adjustments. The strongest associations were found for participant's education, occupational class, and current financial difficulties. These associations remained after adjustments of childhood and adult socioeconomic measures, although especially participant's education attenuated the associations for occupational class. Conclusions The consistent associations between multiple childhood and adult socioeconomic measures and food habits found among employees highlight the need for improving food habits among people with disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances in particular. Financial barriers together with social aspects of adhering to healthy diets should be considered in future dietary interventions and policy actions.