Dietary Habits for Adults in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is going through a nutritional transition that is affecting dietary habits negatively, which increases diseases related to poor nutrition, particularly poor breakfast consumption.The aim is to identify the dietary habits of the adult population.A cross-sectional study was run in 2018-2020, collecting data from 4062 healthy males and females aged 18-60 years.A questionnaire that includes sociodemographic status and dietary habits has been measured.Results were analysed by SPSS version 26 for the Chi-square test at a significant level of 0.05.The study found that about 60% consumed 3-4 meals per day, while 36% consumed two or fewer.The eating habits were divided between healthy and unhealthy choices (53% vs. 43%).Females consumed fewer meals than males.43% of both genders consumed a harmful snack.The snack types were varied, with females consuming fries and vegetables as snacks more frequently than males (18% vs. 9%).In contrast, males consumed more meat sandwiches and leftover cooked food (24% and 19% versus 16% and 13% for females).Equal proportions of men and women consume fruits and nuts.Breakfast is consumed by the highest percentage (36%).40% of men always consume breakfast, while only 32% of women do so.32% of individuals of both genders skip breakfast.In conclusion, the poor eating habits of the participants were discovered.These findings are useful for designing nutrition education programs promoting nutritious snack consumption, which might be affected by the nature of breakfast consumption.