title: Motivations to eat healthily in older Dutch adults--a cross sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To influence dietary behaviors, more insight in food choice motivations is necessary. This study identified what motivations older adults have to eat healthily and investigated to what extent these motivations are particular to specific subgroups according to socio-economic position and other demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from 1,050 older Dutch adults who participated in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (65-80 years, independently living, normal cognitive status). Motivations to eat healthily and characteristics were measured with a self-reported questionnaire. We used logistic regression analyses to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI for the association between subgroups and motivations to eat healthily.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most reported motivations to eat healthily were: "feeling fit" (51.7%), "current health" (49.7%) and "body weight" (39.2%). Multivariate analyses showed that older adults with chronic diseases (≥2 vs. no chronic disease OR: 4.41, 95% CI: 2.31-8.44) and a poor self-rated health (poor vs. good OR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.22-3.73) were more likely to report "current disease" as a motivation to eat healthily. Groups from lower socio-economic positions were less likely to report "to prevent diseases" (low income vs. high OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.32-0.86, low education vs. high OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.27-0.70) and older adults with obesity were less likely to report "current health" (obese vs. normal weight OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.32-0.69) as motivations to eat healthily.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Multivariate analyses showed that the presence of a disease in older adults is an important motivation for them to eat healthily, which might indicate that older adults with health problems are aware of the link between their disease and nutrition. Older adults from lower socio-economic positions or those with obesity require a specific approach because disease prevention seems to be of lesser importance for these groups, even though a healthy diet could improve their health. Future research should investigate the reasons behind the motives of low socio-economic position and obese older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. coosje.dijkstra@vu.nl.
authors.forename: S Coosje
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. judith.neter@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Judith E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Neter
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ingeborg.brouwer@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Ingeborg A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Brouwer
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ma.huisman@vumc.nl.|Department of Sociology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ma.huisman@vumc.nl.|Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ma.huisman@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Martijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huisman
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. m.visser@vu.nl.|Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. m.visser@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Marjolein
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Visser
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001835:Body Weight; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D058870:Food, Organic; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009426:Netherlands; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People