Experiences at college and university may have long-term benefits for diet and health

It’s often said that mum’s home cooking is best, but that might not be the case for people who stay on in education.

According to new research, people’s experiences at college and university in their late teens and early 20s tend to have a bigger influence on what they eat in midlife than their family background and where they were brought up. Among members of generation X, born in 1970, those who remained in education after age 18 had the best diet at age 46.

What the researchers looked at

Researchers from universities across the UK analysed information from more than 12,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1970, who are taking part in the 1970 British Cohort Study.

They looked at data on study participants’ diets reported at age 46 in an online food diary. This showed which food and drink people consumed over the previous 24 hours. The researchers analysed diet diary entries to see how closely participants followed the ‘Mediterranean diet’, which contains unprocessed whole foods and is linked to a reduced risk of dementia and cardiovascular diseases.

To understand the factors influencing people’s dietary decisions, the study examined these data alongside information about participants’ childhood socioeconomic background, parents’ social status and how deprived their local neighbourhood was when they were growing up. They then examined their education and employment history in early adulthood, between ages 16 and 24.

What the study found

The researchers found that people’s education in early adulthood was linked to their diet quality in midlife. People who stayed on in education to attend college and university after age 18 tended to have the best diet at age 46, compared to their peers who had joined the workforce by the same age. There was little difference in diet quality between those adults who started work in early adulthood and their peers who were unemployed and not seeking work.

People who attended college and university tended to come from more advantaged backgrounds. However, the study found that their family’s income, their local area when they were growing up and their parents’ social status did not impact their diet quality to the same degree as their own education in their late teens and early 20s.

Those who continued their education were likely to earn more and live in more affluent neighbourhoods in midlife than those who started working at a young age. Nevertheless, the study found that it was education rather than socioeconomic factors which were linked to their diet at age 46.

The researchers said: “Educational attainment, an indicator of the acquisition of knowledge and skills, showed more consistent associations with diet outcomes compared with the material resources acquired from income.”

They added that early adulthood appears to be a “sensitive period” when people may be more open to changing their diet. Policy interventions should focus on this “potential window of change” to help people improve their diets and tackle health inequalities.

Read the full paper

‘Early adulthood socioeconomic trajectories contribute to inequalities in adult diet quality, independent of childhood and adulthood socioeconomic position’ by Yinhua Tao, Jane Maddock, Laura Howe and Eleanor M Winpenny is available on the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health website.