Abstract
Background
Most cancers are preventable, especially by improving dietary habits, which account for a large proportion of cancer causes. However, several factors influence a person’s dietary behaviors, and it can be challenging to implement healthy behaviors. Individuals with poor dietary behaviors should be encouraged to improve them and those making efforts should be encouraged to adopt more active steps to prevent cancer. Therefore, to identify the proportion of Korean adults who followed the recommended guidelines for dietary factors to prevent cancer risk and those with less practice, we surveyed Korean adults using an Internet-based questionnaire.
Methods
The 2023 Korean National Cancer Prevention for Dietary Awareness and Practice Survey was a cross-sectional online survey conducted during September 4–25, 2023, and included adults aged 20–69 years. The survey included questions on sociodemographic and lifestyle factors to assess the practice of five dietary recommendations: “consume sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables,” “balance your diet with a wide range of healthy foods,” “limit your salt intake from all sources,” “avoid burnt or charred foods,” and “avoid alcohol consumption.”
Results
Among the 4,000 participants, 82.6% were aware that unbalanced diet is a risk factor for cancer. Being physically active and having nutritional education were associated with a higher odds ratio (OR) for always practicing the five dietary recommendations. Participants with a history of chronic disease had a lower OR for consuming a balanced diet (OR: 0.822) and limited salt intake (OR: 0.771). Compared with those who did not have a chronic disease, participants with hypertension, dyslipidemia, or type 2 diabetes had a lower OR of always limiting salt intake (0.654, 0.657, and 0.595, respectively). Participants with hypertension or dyslipidemia had ORs of 29% and 27% of always avoiding alcohol consumption, respectively. Those with dyslipidemia had ORs of 32% and 31% for always consuming a balanced diet and avoiding burnt or charred food, respectively.
Conclusions
Despite high awareness of dietary cancer prevention, individuals with chronic diseases, especially dyslipidemia, showed poor adherence to cancer-preventive dietary practices. Our findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to improve the dietary habits of this atrisk population.