Frequently dining out increases mortality risk

Adults who ate two or more meals prepared outside of the home daily had an increased risk for all-cause mortality vs. those who had fewer than one meal prepared outside of the home per week, according to a cross-sectional study.

“It is not a bad idea to dine out, but this study suggests that doing this too often (more than two meals every day away from home) may not be a good habit,” Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at the College of Public Health, University of Iowa, told Healio Primary Care.

Bao and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey — an ongoing multistage, cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of adults who live in the U.S. — that were gathered from 1999 to 2014. The researchers excluded participants who had CVD or cancer at baseline. The final analysis included 35,084 adults aged 20 years and older (mean age, 43.5 years; 51.6% women).

The study’s main outcome measures were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality. The researchers followed participants for a total of 291,475 person years; the cutoff period for data analysis was Dec. 31, 2015.

There were 2,781 deaths during the follow-up period, including 511 due to CVD and 638 due to cancer. An analysis adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity; socioeconomic status; dietary and lifestyle factors; and BMI revealed that participants who ate two or more meals prepared away from home daily had a significantly increased risk for all-cause mortality (adjusted HR [aHR] = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.05-2.13) vs. those who had fewer than one meal prepared away from home per week, according to the researchers. They also observed a nonsignificant increase in cardiovascular mortality (aHR = 1.18; 95% CI, .55-2.55) and cancer mortality (1.67; 95% CI, .87 to 3.21) among those who frequently consumed meals prepared outside the home.

Despite the findings, Bao warned that home-prepared meals are not always healthier.

“However, previous studies have found that compared to meals prepared at home, meals prepared away from home in general tend to be higher in total calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and refined carbohydrates and lower in nutrients like dietary fiber and iron. Fried food consumption is also more prevalent among people who often eat meals away from home,” he said. “Therefore, people eating meals prepared at home may benefit from less calorie intake, a higher overall diet quality, and a lower fried food consumption.”