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The Korean Health Eating Index (KHEI) of young adults was the lowest compared to other age groups. Food Literacy (FL) is the ability to keep a healthy eating habits for an individual and can be an important tool for preventing chronic diseases among young adults. The objectives of this study were to classify the types of dietary behaviors among young adults based on their food intake behaviors and to explore the level of FL according to those types. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of representative sample of 1,059 young adults (19 to 39 years) in South Korea in 2021. FL questionnaire was comprised of 33 questions with 5-point scale. The total FL scores were calculated by adding all the responses and multiplied by 0.61 to make the highest score to be 100. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to classify the key characteristics of dietary behaviors, using 19 behavior questions such as frequencies of eating three meals and night snacking, frequency of using take-outs, cooking at home, and emotional eating. Statistical analysis was conducted using STATA/SE 17.0. Four types of dietary behaviors were extracted using PCA: healthy, trendy, convenient and emotional eating. Each participant had tendency scores for four eating types: the higher score meaning higher tendency of having that specific eating type. The FL scores increased from Q1(55.4) to Q5(67.8) according to the quintiles of their healthy diet tendency scores after adjusting for sex and age. The FL scores by the tendency of trendy diet, which is characterized by trying trendy diet such as intermittent fasting, increased from Q1(59.1) to Q5(66.9). In contrast, the higher tendency for emotional diet was associated with lower FL scores(Q1 = 62.5, Q5 = 59.8). Korean young adult population had different levels of FL according to their eating characteristics. It is important to develop targeted nutrition education programs for improving FL among young adults with unhealthy eating practices such as higher tendency of emotional eating. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety; Government of Seoul; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education. (2021R1I1A306024811, 2021R1A6A1A03044501) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food literacy(FL) is originally derived from health literacy and includes personal skills and knowledge in various aspects of food consumption. Recently, the authors have proposed a broader definition of FL, including the ability to select food by considering community, society, and the environment as well as individual functional competency. It consists of nutrition and safety (NS), cultural and relational (CS), and socio-ecological (SE) domains. To identify the level of FL among Seoul citizens and the association with food intake and happiness in life Cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 4,039 citizens FL questionnaire was comprised of 33 questions. Happiness in life, satisfaction on food, and importance of food on pursuing happiness were measured with a scale of 0 (most negative) to 10 (most positive). Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were performed to analyze the distribution of FL scores according to the sociodemographic factors. The analysis was conducted using Stata/SE 17.0. Men, students, people who are 18-29 years or 70 years and older had the lowest scores for all domains of FL. The highest quartile group of the NS scores had higher probabilities of consuming adequate servings of vegetables(Q4 vs. Q1, OR = 1.69) and fruits(Q4 vs. Q1, OR = 1.83), which both showed significant linear trends (P <0.001). Also, as the overall FL score increased, the happiness in life increased by 0.92(Q4 vs. Q1) points, the satisfaction on food increased by 1.13(Q4 vs. Q1) points, and the importance of food on pursuing happiness increased by 0.87(Q4 vs. Q1) points. All of three domains of FL showed a linear increase with happiness, satisfaction, and importance of food after controlling for various sociodemographic factors (P < 0.001). This study identified the vulnerable groups of FL and found that FL is closely related to happiness in life and food-related life satisfaction after controlling for other covariates. It is necessary to develop a program to improve FL especially for vulnerable groups for happier and more satisfactory life. Government of Seoul; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education(2021R1I1A306024811, 2021R1A6A1A03044501) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]