ArticleThe Journal of nutrition2024
Dietary Quality and Diet-Related Factors Among Emerging Adults (18-23 y) in the United States Are a Cause for Concern: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2015-2018.
Article in The Journal of nutrition, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Behavioural and cognitive changes in young adults towards food and nutrition after exposure to digital food communication: a mixed-methods systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- Application of the Total Nutrient Index as a Precision Nutrition Tool to Address Dietary Recommendations Across the Life Course.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2026Article
- How Is U.S. Food-Insecurity Related to Dietary Quality? A Scoping Review to Inform Nutrition Security Across the Lifespan.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Structural Barriers to Healthy Food and High-Sugar Consumption in Black Young Adult Women: The Mediating Role of Internal Health Locus of Control.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Development and Evaluation of a Functional Food Consumption Index (FunFoCI) in Adults.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Food Agency and Intentions to Improve Cooking Skills Among Korean Young Adults: Demographic Differences and Motivators.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Nourishing minds: the connection between healthy eating and academic success in higher education.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Nutrition Education for Emerging Adults: Protocol for Program Evaluation.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Development of a Clinical Nomogram for Predicting Densitometric Osteoporosis in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Based on NHANES Data.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2026Article
- The Social, Behavioral, and Psychological Predictors of Young Women's Food Choices: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Global burden and projection of colorectal cancer attributable to low whole-grain diets: an analysis of GBD 2021 data with Bayesian age-period-cohort modeling.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPoor dietary quality is a risk factor for diet-related chronic disease and suboptimal nutritional patterns often begin early in the life course. Although the dietary intakes of young children, adolescents, and middle-aged and older adults are well established, much less is known about emerging adults, who represent a unique time point in life, as they are undergoing significant changes in food environments, autonomy, finances, and caregiver and parental involvement.
objectivesThis study aimed to examine dietary quality, as assessed via the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), by demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics among emerging adults (18-23 y) in the United States who participated in the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
methodsNHANES data were collected via a household interview and 2 24-h dietary recalls (24HR). Usual dietary intakes from the 24HRs were approximated using the multivariate National Cancer Institute Method to compute mean HEI-2015 overall and component scores (range: 0-100; higher scores indicating higher dietary quality).
resultsOverall dietary quality among emerging adults (HEI-2015: 50.3 ± 1.3) was significantly lower than other adults (≥24 y) (HEI-2015: 56.3 ± 0.5; P < 0.0001) in the United States, with differences primarily driven by lower intakes of whole fruit, vegetables, and whole grains and higher intakes of sodium, refined grains, and saturated fat. Few differences in HEI-2015 scores were noted across population subgroups by sex, food security, family income, and food assistance program participation, except for added sugar; intakes of added sugar were significantly higher among women, food insecure, and food assistance program participants than those in their counterparts, respectively.
conclusionsDietary quality is poor among emerging adults in the United States and persists across all population subgroups, suggesting a significant need for tailored public health interventions to improve dietary quality among this population. Future research investigating to what extent emerging adults prioritize healthful behaviors and exploring other indicators for identifying nutritionally vulnerable subgroups may be impactful for identifying disparities among this life stage.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.