Food and nutrient intakes by temperament traits: findings in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition 2018-08, Vol.72 (8), p.1136-1141
• Main Authors: Perälä, Mia-Maria, Tiainen, Anna-Maija, Lahti, Jari, Männistö, Satu, Lahti, Marius, Heinonen, Kati, Kaartinen, Niina E., Pesonen, Anu-Katriina, Kajantie, Eero, Räikkönen, Katri, Eriksson, Johan G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/699/75/593/2100; 692/700/2814; Aged; Alcohol; Alcohols; Avoidance Learning; Body Mass Index; Carbohydrates; Cereals; Chronic diseases; Chronic illnesses; Clinical Nutrition; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Consumption; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dependence; Diet; Edible Grain; Epidemiology; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Finland; Fish; Food; Food habits; Food intake; Fruit; Fruits (Food); Health Behavior; Healthy Diet; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Milk; Milk products; Nutrients; Nutrients - administration & dosage; Personality; Personality Assessment; Psychological research; Public Health; Regression analysis; Reinforcement; Reward; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperament; Temperament - physiology; Tocopherol; Vegetables; Vitamin E; Vitamins
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-018-0229-4

Background/objectives Previous studies have shown that the temperament traits are related to risk factors for chronic diseases, which could be partly explained by lifestyle habits. However, little is known whether temperament traits associate with diet. The aim of this study was to examine the cross-sectional associations between temperament traits and the whole diet. Subjects/methods We studied 1668 men and women, aged 56−70, from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Temperament was measured using the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. Information on diet was collected by a validated 128-item food frequency questionnaire. The associations of temperament traits; novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD), and persistence (P), with diet were tested by linear regression analysis. Results After adjustment for potential confounders, greater HA was related to poorer diet quality, including lower consumption of vegetables, fruits, fish and several vitamins. RD was associated with healthier diet quality, including higher consumption of vegetables and intake of vitamin E and lower intake of alcohol. NS was significantly related to higher intake of fish, fat and alcohol and lower consumption of cereals, milk products and carbohydrates. No significant associations between P and intake of foods and nutrients were observed. Conclusions Our results suggest that there is an association between temperament traits and diet. Especially greater HA seems to associate with poorer diet quality and greater RD with healthier diet quality.