Soy Milk Consumption in the United States of America: An NHANES Data Report.

With the increasing adoption of plant-based diets in the United States, more and more individuals replace cow milk with plant-based milk alternatives. Soy milk is a commonly used cow milk substitute, which is characterized by a higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids and fibers. Despite these favorable characteristics, little is known about the current prevalence of soy milk consumption the United States. We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) to assess soy milk usage in the United States and identified potential predictors for its consumption in the US general population. The proportion of individuals reporting soy milk consumption in the NHANES 2015-2016 cycle was 2%, and 1.54% in the NHANES 2017-2020 cycle. Non-Hispanic Asian and Black ethnicities (as well as other Hispanic and Mexican American ethnicities in the 2017-2020 cycle) significantly increased the odds for soy milk consumption. While a college degree and weekly moderate physical activity were associated with significantly higher odds for consuming soy milk (OR: 2.21 and 2.36, respectively), sex was not an important predictor. In light of the putative health benefits of soy milk and its more favorable environmental impact as compared to cow milk, future investigations should attempt to identify strategies that may help promote its consumption in selected populations.

Current Sex Distribution of Cooking and Food Shopping Responsibilities in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Home cooking is an important obesity prevention strategy and associated with benefits for diet and health. Although cooking may be a joyful act of mindfulness, it also requires planning, preparation and time. Historically, women have been more likely to fulfill the role of food shopping and cooking. More recent studies suggested a transition in traditional household role assignments towards a larger involvement of males. This study examined the current sex distribution of cooking and food shopping responsibilities in the United States of America based on a nationally representative sample of 9078 citizens from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2017-2020). More than 80% of women aged 25 years or older indicated that they were the person who did most of the planning/preparing of meals in their families, whereas the percentage of males responding affirmatively was substantially lower, ranging from 38.73% to 43.20% depending on age. Analyses on food shopping duties revealed a comparable distribution. In multivariate regression, female sex was associated with significantly higher odds of being the main food shopper/meal preparer in the family (OR: 4.82 (4.14-5.60) and 5.54 (4.60-6.67), respectively). Our data suggest that the majority of food shopping and cooking duties are still performed by women, which has important implications for public health nutrition initiatives.