Research report Food-related lifestyles and their association to obesity in five European countries Federico J.A. Pe ´ rez-Cueto a, *, Wim Verbeke a , Marcia Dutra de Barcellos b,d , Olga Kehagia c , George Chryssochoidis c , Joachim Scholderer b , Klaus G. Grunert b a Ghent University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium b Aarhus University, MAPP Centre for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector, Fuglesangs Alle 4, DK-8210 Aarhus, Denmark c Department of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural University of Athens, 75, Iera Odos, GR-11855 Athens, Greece d Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Faculty of Business Administration, Accounting and Economics, Av. Ipiranga 6681, Building 50, 1102, 90619-900 Porto Alegre, Brazil Introduction More than half of the European population is overweight or obese. Obesity has reached epidemic levels in Europe, mainly due to poor diets and physical inactivity (Hyde, 2008; Lobstein & Millstone, 2007). Obesity constitutes a financial burden to individuals and society through the health system in most European countries (Hyde, 2008; Trogdon, Finkelstein, Hylands, Dellea, & Kamal-Bahl, 2008) and touches particularly the poorer segments of the population (McCarthy, 2004). Obesity has further economic implications since, for example, obese workers miss more workdays due to illness, injury, or disability compared to non-obese employees (Trogdon et al., 2008). The economic burden in terms of costs to the health services of treating the resulting ill health due to obesity are estimated to be up to 6% of total health care expenditure in the countries of the WHOs European Region (Knai, Suhrcke, & Lobstein, 2007) and this burden is expected to further increase with increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population. Obesity impairs quality of life (Kolotkin, Meter, & Williams, 2001), although it is worth noting here, that further research is needed to clarify whether quality of life differs among subsets of obese persons (Kolotkin, Crosby, & Williams, 2002; Kolotkin et al., 2001). The subject has attracted the interest of a significant number of fields of research since not all the determinants of obesity are well understood yet and multi-sector action is needed to prevent further expansion of the epidemic and to tackle the present and future consequences of obesity (Nayga, 2008). The determinants of food intake patterns and consequent weight gain are varied. These determinants include factors such as home economics (Gedrich, 2003), physical activity levels and socio- demographic characteristics of the household (Bryan & Walsh, 2004; Whybrow et al., 2008). Psychological factors such as disinhibition and restraint may influence individual dietary choices (Bryant, King, & Blundell, 2008; Hays & Roberts, 2008). Furthermore, Appetite 54 (2010) 156–162 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 17 March 2009 Received in revised form 7 October 2009 Accepted 8 October 2009 Keywords: Food-Related Lifestyle Europe Obesity Eating attitudes Eating behaviour Economic burden Q-PorkChains ABSTRACT This paper’s objective is to investigate the associations between obesity and Food-Related Lifestyles (FRL) in five European countries. A cross-sectional web-based survey was carried out in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Poland, January 2008, with quota samples on gender (male, female), age categories (20–44 and 45–70 years), and locality of residence (urban, rural). A total of 2437 respondents (51% women, 49% men; mean age 41.4 years, SD 13.1) participated. Obtained data included socio-demographic information, measure of the food-related lifestyle scale and self-reported weights and heights. Body Mass Index (in kg/m 2 ) was calculated as weight (in kg) divided by the squared height (in m 2 ). Individuals were classified as obese if BMI  30. Logistic regressions were fitted for the aggregated sample and then by country with obese as dependent and socio-demographics and FRL were included as independents. The prevalence of obesity in the five countries is 22%. Europeans giving more importance to ‘self-fulfilment’ (odds = 1.18), ‘planning of meals’ (odds = 1.15), and preferring ‘snacks vs. meals’ (odds = 1.24) are more likely to be obese. Respondents were less likely to be obese if they attached lower levels of importance to the use of ‘shopping lists’ (odds = 0.87). The overall picture is that a stronger interest in health, organic products and freshness, within the FLR domain of quality aspects, is associated with ‘not being obese’. This study has identified specific FRL dimensions as potential predictors of obesity. The resulting consumers’ profiling can be used for targeted interventions for weight management in Europe. ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: federico.perezcueto@ugent.be (Federico J.A. Pe ´ rez-Cueto), wim.verbeke@ugent.be (W. Verbeke), MARCIAB@asb.dk, Marcia.Barcellos@pucrs.br (M.D. de Barcellos), Kehagia@agribusiness.aua.gr (O. Kehagia), gc@agribusiness.aua.gr (G. Chryssochoidis), Sch@asb.dk (J. Scholderer), klg@asb.dk (K.G. Grunert). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Appetite journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/appet 0195-6663/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2009.10.001