Personality and dietary intake - findings in the Helsinki birth cohort study

Anna-Maija K Tiainen; Satu Männistö; Marius Lahti; Paul A Blomstedt; Jari Lahti; Mia-Maria Perälä; Katri Räikkönen; Eero Kajantie; Johan G Eriksson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068284

Personality and dietary intake - findings in the Helsinki birth cohort study

PLoS One. 2013 Jul 18;8(7):e68284. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068284. Print 2013.

Authors

Anna-Maija K Tiainen¹, Satu Männistö, Marius Lahti, Paul A Blomstedt, Jari Lahti, Mia-Maria Perälä, Katri Räikkönen, Eero Kajantie, Johan G Eriksson

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. anna-maija.tiainen@thl.fi

Abstract

Background: Personality traits are associated with health outcomes including non-communicable diseases. This could be partly explained by lifestyle related factors including diet. The personality traits neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are linked with resilience, meaning adaptability in challenging situations. Resilient people usually comply with favorable health behaviors.

Objective: Our objective was to explore the associations between food and nutrient intake, personality traits and resilience.

Design: A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to measure diet and the NEO-personality inventory to assess personality in 1681 subjects. Linear regression analysis was used to explore diet-personality associations and cluster analysis to define resilient and non-resilient personality profiles.

Results: Adjusting for age, education and energy intake, and applying Bonferroni corrections, openness in men was associated with higher vegetable (14.9 g/d for 1 SD increase in the personality score, PBonf <0.01) and lower confectionery and chocolate (-2.8 g/d, PBonf <0.01) intakes. In women, neuroticism was associated with lower fish (-4.9 g/d, PBonf <0.001) and vegetable (-18.9 g/d, PBonf <0.01) and higher soft drink (19.9 g/d, PBonf <0.001) intakes. Extraversion, in women, associated with higher meat (5.9 g/d, PBonf <0.05) and vegetable (24.8 g/d, PBonf <0.001) intakes, openness with higher vegetable (23.4 g/d, PBonf <0.001) and fruit (29.5 g/d, PBonf <0.01) intakes. Agreeableness was associated with a lower soft drink (-16.2 g/d, PBonf <0.01) and conscientiousness with a higher fruit (32.9 g/d, PBonf<0.01) intake in women. Comparing resilient and non-resilient subjects, we found resilience in women to be associated with higher intakes of vegetables (52.0 g/d, P<0.001), fruits (58.3 g/d, P<0.01), fish (8.6 g/d, P<0.01) and dietary fiber (1.6 g/d, P<0.01).

Conclusion: Personality traits are associated with dietary intake and especially subjects with resilient personality profiles had healthier dietary intakes. These associations were stronger in women than in men.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Cluster Analysis
Educational Status
Feeding Behavior / psychology*
Female
Finland
Humans
Linear Models
Male
Personality*
Resilience, Psychological*
Sex Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (SM: grants 136895 and 141005; JGE: grants 129255 and 126775), The Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation, The Finnish Diabetes Research Foundation, the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, Signe o. Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, The Juho Vainio Foundation, Samfundet Folkhälsan, Finska Läkaresällskapet, and The National Doctoral Programme of Psychology. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.