Evaluation of food neophobia and diet quality in adult individuals

Although food neophobia (FN) are reported to have nutritional effects, the studies on the subject are fairly limited in the literature. This study was conducted with 174 volunteers (89 female, 85 male) with a range of 20-60 years living in Adana so as to evaluate the relationship between FN and dietary quality. Participants' demographic characteristics, physical activity status, nutritional habits, food consumption frequency, 24-hour food consumption record, anthropometric measurements and food neophobia level (with FNS scale) were obtained by means of a questionnaire administered by face-to-face interview method. Furthermore, Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) and Healthy Eating Index (HEI) -2015 scales were used to assess dietary qualities. İt was being determined that there is a weak positive correlation between FN and age (r = 0.286, p <0.05). Moreover, although the body mass index increased with FN level, this increase was insignificant (p>0.05). As the level of FN increases, it is indicated that the amount of bread and grain group foods consumed by male subjects and the amount of cheese, eggs, vegetables, and wholemeal bread consumed by female subjects decreased; contrariwise, the consumption of sweets in women significantly increased (p<0.05). In addition, it was found that the consumption of red meat, chicken, fish and eggs decreased insignificantly in male individuals with increased fear levels (p>0.05). Besides, with increasing FN level, the intake of cholesterol, retinol, biotin and B 12 vitamins and magnesium and zinc minerals decreased considerably (p <0.05). There is not an significant association between FNS and DDS, whereas, it is stated that there is a negative weak correlation between FNS and HEI-2015 (r = -0.182, p =0.016). As a consequence, these attitudes had better be taken into account when individual's diets are being regulated, as some vitamin and mineral intake might be inadequate due to the reduced level of food resources (especially animal-derived nutrients) consumed with increasing levels of FN.