Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Br J Nutr. 2024 Jul 28;132(2):236-247. doi: 10.1017/S0007114524001004. Epub 2024 May 20.
Promoting healthy snacking is important in addressing malnutrition, overweight and obesity among an ageing population. However, little is known about the factors underlying snacking behaviour in older adults. The present study aimed to explore within- and between-person associations between determinants (i.e. intention, visibility of snacks, social modelling and emotions) and snacking behaviours (i.e. decision to snack, health factor of the snack and portion size) in older adults (60+). Conducting a two-part intensive longitudinal design, data were analysed from forty-eight healthy older adults consisting of (1) an event-based self-report ecological momentary assessment (EMA) diary every time they had a snack and (2) a time-based EMA questionnaire on their phone five times per day. Analysis through generalised linear mixed models indicated that higher intention to snack healthily leads to healthier snacking while higher levels of social modelling and cheerfulness promote unhealthier choices within individuals. At the between-person level, similar results were found for intention and social modelling. Visibility of a snack increased portion size at both a within- and between-person level, while the intention to eat a healthy snack only increased portion size at the between-person level. No associations were found between the decision to snack and all determinants. This is the first study to investigate both within- and between-person associations between time-varying determinants and snacking in older adults. Such information holds the potential for incorporation into just-in-time adaptive interventions, allowing for personalised tailoring, more effective promotion of healthier snacking behaviours and thus pursuing the challenge of healthy ageing.
促进健康零食的摄入对于解决老龄化人口中的营养不足、超重和肥胖问题非常重要。然而，人们对于老年人零食行为背后的因素知之甚少。本研究旨在探索老年人（60 岁及以上）内在和人际间决定因素（即意图、零食可见性、社会模仿和情绪）与零食行为（即决定吃零食、零食的健康因素和份量大小）之间的关联。通过两部分密集纵向设计，对 48 名健康老年人的数据进行了分析，其中包括：（1）每次吃零食时基于事件的自我报告生态瞬时评估（EMA）日记，以及（2）每天五次在手机上基于时间的 EMA 问卷。通过广义线性混合模型分析表明，更高的健康零食摄入意图会导致更健康的零食选择，而更高水平的社会模仿和愉快情绪会促使个体做出不健康的选择。在人际间水平上，意图和社会模仿也存在类似的结果。零食的可见性会在个体内和人际间水平上增加零食的份量大小，而健康零食摄入的意图仅在人际间水平上增加了零食的份量大小。决定吃零食与所有决定因素之间没有关联。这是第一项研究，旨在调查老年人中随时间变化的决定因素与零食摄入之间的内在和人际间关联。这些信息有可能被纳入及时自适应干预措施中，从而实现个性化定制，更有效地促进更健康的零食行为，从而应对健康老龄化的挑战。
