Food neophobia is associated with lower self-reported physical and mental health

Poor dietary quality is linked to a variety of adverse health outcomes, including increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers. However, the trait of food neophobia (FN), which is associated with rejection of novel, intense, unusual, or otherwise arousing, foods, has been found to be an obstacle to achieving dietary variety, the results of which are evident in lower overall dietary quality in high FN adults. It remains to be determined if the dietary impact of increasing FN is reflected in greater prevalence of health problems generally or indeed has a negative impact on satisfaction with health status. In this study, several large adult participant groups from the USA, UK, and Australia completed the Food Neophobia Scale and the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). This scale is sensitive to the presence of a wide array of physical and psychiatric conditions, and has been found to reflect significant associations between diet and physical and mental health. Across all participant groups, significant declines in both the physical and mental health sub-scales of the SF-12 were evident with increasing FN, as well in the total SF-12 score. Other variables that have an impact on health – gender, age, education, country of residence – also influenced SF-12 scores but did not account for the impact of FN. This suggests that adult FN at moderate to high levels is a health risk factor. These data underline the importance, particularly evident in recent research, of understanding the relationship between personality factors and food preferences and choices.