Meal Composition and Temporal Eating Patterns among Sri Lankan Adults: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Understanding population-specific food consumption patterns is useful for controlling diet-related health complications.

Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the meal composition and timing of the meals among the public in Sri Lanka.

Materials & Methods: A nationally representative sample of adults was selected using a multi-stage random cluster sampling technique. Meal pattern data was derived from 24-hour dietary recalls.

Results: Almost all the surveyed respondents consumed three major meals, breakfast (97.6%), lunch (97.9%), and dinner (99.0%). Only 31.8% and 36.2% of the population had mid-morning and evening snacks, respectively. Vegetables were not consumed by 73.2%, 44.1%, and 58.2% of participants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. Rice was the most common breakfast food item (67.7%), of which, 10% of participants consumed rice only with ‘coconut sambol'. Only 8.9%, 30.4%, and 11.8% of participants incorporated green leafy vegetables in their breakfast, lunch, and dinner in that order. Meat or meat equivalents were consumed by 28.8%, 60.8%, and 52.4% of participants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. The most common snacks were biscuits/confectionaries and bakery foods. The time range between wake-up and breakfast was 00:30-07:00 hh: mm (Mean: 03:03 ± 1:17) while it was 00.15-05:45 hh: mm (Mean: 1:50 ± 0.56) between dinner and sleep onset.

Conclusions: The majority of the study population's meals are not deemed healthy and lack of variation in all dietary groups, including fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat or meat equivalents, and pulses. Biscuits, confectionaries, pastries, and other starchy foods were the most common snacks. There was a significant variation in meal timing among these groups.