Why learning to cook young is good for future health

Learning how to cook when you're young could be good for your health and nutrition in the long term, a University of Auckland researcher says. Photo / 123RF

Learning how to cook when you're young could be good for your health and nutrition in the long term, a University of Auckland researcher says.

A decade-long, US-based study, just published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, analysed the link between early life cooking skills and nutrition later on.

"The impact of developing cooking skills early in life may not be apparent until later in adulthood when individuals have more opportunity and responsibility for meal preparation," said author Associate Professor Jennifer Utter, now based at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

"The strength of this study is the large, population-based sample size followed over a period of 10 years to explore the impact of perceived cooking skills on later nutritional well-being."

The Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults longitudinal study was done in Minneapolis-Saint Paul area schools.

Participants reported on adequacy of cooking skills from 2002 to 2003 when they were 18 to 23 years old.

Data was then collected between 2015 and 2016 on nutrition-related outcomes when participants were 30 to 35 years old.

Questions assessed the perceived adequacy of cooking skills, how often they prepared a meal that included vegetables, how often they ate meals as a family, and how often they ate at a fast food restaurant.

Most participants perceived their cooking skills to be adequate at age 18 to 23, when about a quarter of adults reported their cooking skills were very adequate.

There were no differences in perceived cooking skills by sex, race or ethnicity, educational attainment, or age.

Perceived adequacy of cooking skills predicted multiple indicators of nutrition outcomes later in adulthood including greater odds of preparing a meal with vegetables most days and less frequent consumption of fast food.

If those who perceived their cooking skills as adequate had families, they ate more frequent family meals, less frequent fast food meals, and had fewer barriers to food preparation.

"Opportunities to develop cooking skills by adolescents may result in long-term benefits for nutritional well-being," Utter said.

"Families, health and nutrition professionals, educators, community agencies, and funders can continue to invest in home economics and cooking education knowing that the benefits may not be fully realised until young adults develop more autonomy and live independently."

The finding follows recent Massey University research that revealed just 13 per cent of surveyed teachers identified planning and preparing a complete meal as a key learning objective for their students.

Nearly 120 schools throughout New Zealand took part in the research, which examined how school children in Years 7 and 8 were taught cooking skills under the school curriculum.

Many of the foods and techniques taught in class were based around cakes, muffins and desserts. Less than half of the foods prepared were main meal items, and only 10 per cent of teachers listed fruit and vegetable content of a recipe as a factor that influenced their recipe choice.