Dietary quality and social contact among a nationally representative sample of the older adult population in the United States

Background: To design appropriate health promotion programs for older adults, it is important to understand risk factors that influence dietary intake and quality. Objective. Examine, by frequency and source of social contact, characteristics of a representative sample of older adults and, associations between these social contacts and quality of dietary intake. Design. Data of 3194 participants in NHANES 111, ages 65 years and over, were analyzed. A summary score for social contact was developed based on frequency of telephone contact; get together with friends, relatives and neighbors; attendance at religious services; and attendance at club meetings. Dietary intake measures included, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores, calorie and nutrient intakes. Demographic, lifestyle and social variables were examined in association with social contact in logistic regressions. Associations between social contact and dietary intake were examined using linear regression. Results. Compared to men and women with 4 social contacts (HEI=69.2 and 72.7), those with one, two or three social contacts had significantly lower HEI scores (HEI of men=62.6, 64.8, 67.5 and HEI for women=65.7, 68.4, 70.3, respectively), consumed fewer calories and fewer servings of vegetables, fruit and variety when controlled for age and ethnicity. Associations were greatly attenuated when demographic and lifestyle variables were controlled for. Being a smoker, self-reporting poor health and needing help with personal or routine care were associated with lower social contact. Conclusions. Dietary intake is affected by a variety of factors including frequency of social contact. Outreach and screening, by community-based programs, may result in social and health benefits.