Living Alone? Your Diet May Suffer

When you live alone, you can do just about anything you want. With nobody holding you down, that includes eating whatever you want too--and unfortunately, that means not always making the healthiest decisions.

"The research suggests living alone may represent a barrier to healthy eating that is related to the cultural and social roles of food and cooking. For example, a lack of motivation and enjoyment in cooking and/or eating alone often led to people preparing simple or ready-made meals lacking key nutrients," researcher Dr. Katherine Hanna of QUT said in a statement. "The absence of support or encouragement to comply with healthy eating guidelines and difficulty in managing portion control were also factors influencing diet."

During the study, researchers analyzed 41 previous studies to investigate links between the consumption of certain foods and living alone.

They found that people who lived alone were more likely to eat more of the same things and lower consumption of some core food groups, like fruits, vegetables and fish. However, the number of people living alone continues to increase in the developed world, according to study authors. In fact, in 2010, 23 percent of households in Australia were lone person households, Hanna says. 

Hanna explained that people living alone were diverse in range of age, education, gender and socioeconomic status but found that many could be unprepared for cooking for themselves due to a number of reasons.

"For example, a person who is bereaved or divorced may have previously relied on their partner for food preparation and lack the sufficient cooking skills to make healthy meals," she added. "Economic factors also explain lower consumption of foods like fruits and vegetables and fish, as they require more frequent purchase and consumption, which can be expensive. The psychological impacts of living alone can also influence diet. Previous research has found loneliness, for example, is a significant predictor of malnutrition in the elderly."

Fortunately, for those living alone, several strategies may help address barriers that may prevent healthy eating. 

"These include programs that focus on cooking skills for single people on a range of budgets, improved availability of affordable healthy food and developing socially acceptable opportunities for eating in communal settings," Hanna said.

The study is published in the journal Nutrition Reviews.

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