A new study has found that dining out frequently is strongly associated with the risk of death and all-cause mortality, according to a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics .

“Emerging, although still limited, evidence suggests that eating out frequently is associated with increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes and bio-markers of other chronic diseases,” said Wei Bao, MD, Ph.D., Study Lead Investigator, and Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.

He added: “However, little is known about the association between eating meals away from home and risk of mortality."

For the research, investigators examined data gathered from responses to questionnaires administered during face-to-face household interviews.

The responses included 35,084 adults aged 20 years or older, who participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 1999-2014.

Respondents reported their dietary habits including frequency of eating meals prepared away from home.

The researchers noticed a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cancer mortality among people who prefer to eat out.

During 291,475 person-years of follow-up, 2,781 deaths occurred, including 511 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 638 deaths from cancer.

"Our findings from this large nationally representative sample of US adults shows that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home is significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality," commented Dr. Du.

"The take-home message is that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home may not be a healthy habit. Instead, people should be encouraged to consider preparing more meals at home," concluded the investigators.

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