Risk factors as a result of unhealthy nutrition in the adult population in slovenia with regard to sociodemographic variables

Abstract

Introduction: In this research, we carried out an analysis of risk factors due to precarious nutrition among the adult population in Slovenia and correlated the risks with biological and sociodemographic variables.

Methods: Descriptive and quantitative methods were applied. The data were collected by a structured interview on a sample of 1,193 adults from Slovenia. The biological and sociodemographic variables were then correlated with particular risk factors. The data was analysed using a statistical analysis program SPSS.

Results: It was found that only 4.7% of the population practice healthy nutritional diets, 22.5% can be considered as acceptable and 62.8% of the diets were classified as unhealthy. The most frequent risk factor is due to insufficient intake of grains, fish and vegetables as well as too much fried food and beverages with added sugar and red meat. In finding the correlations between biological and sociodemographic variables and risk factors, we found some correlations. The results also show that unhealthy nutrition is more frequent among the population with below average material standards and lower educational levels, people living in smaller communities, the young, people with high BMI, those living in eastern regions of Slovenia and students.

Conclusion: The results indicate that more effort should be made to target activities towards those groups where several risk factors were found and develop a complex approach to developing healthy nutritional life styles.