Nutrition and food literacy among young Canadian adults living with type 1 diabetes.

Aim: Nutrition and food literacy encompasses knowledge, skills and confidence to prepare healthy meals. This project aimed to assess and compare the proportion of young Canadian adults (18–29 years old) living with type 1 diabetes and without diabetes (controls) who demonstrated adequate nutritional health literacy. Methods: This cross‐sectional study involved participants completing an online survey that included questions on socio‐economic status, nutrition knowledge, confidence and skills in meal preparation and the Short Food Literacy Questionnaire (SFLQ). Proportion of participants with adequate SFLQ score (i.e. ≥34/52) was compared between the groups (two‐sample t‐test). Results: Among the 236 people living with type 1 diabetes and 191 controls (81.5% women), mean age was 24 ± 3 years for people living with type 1 diabetes and 22 ± 3 years for controls (p < 0.001). More people living with type 1 diabetes reported adequate SFLQ score (people living with type 1 diabetes 88.0% vs. Controls 68.0%; p < 0.001). Similarly, majority of people living with type 1 diabetes prepared their own meals compared to the controls (74.5% vs. 47.6%; p < 0.001). Enhanced SFLQ score was associated with higher cooking skills (p = 0.02) and confidence (p < 0.01) in preparing healthy meals. Conclusions: Living with type 1 diabetes was associated with greater SFLQ scores among young Canadian adults. Having the independence, the confidence and skills in meal preparation were contributing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]