Associations of cooking and food preparation skills with diet quality and body weight among Turkish women

Abstract

The relationship between cooking and food preparation skills and health outcomes has received increasing attention, although evidence regarding their independent associations with diet quality and body weight remains inconclusive. This cross-sectional study investigates the relationship between culinary skills, diet quality, and body weight among 281 Turkish women aged 19–64 years using a convenience sampling approach. Cooking and food preparation skills were assessed using the validated 33-item Cooking and Food Skills Scale, while nutrient-based diet quality was measured by the Nutrient Rich Food Index 9.3 (NRF 9.3), calculated from a single 24-h dietary recall. Women in the highest skill tertile (mean score: 214.5 ± 1.1) reported significantly higher confidence in cooking techniques and cooked at home ≥ 5 times per week ( p < 0.05) compared to lower tertiles. In addition, higher cooking skills were associated with a 2.1-fold increase in the odds of having a non-normal body mass index (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.14–3.87; p < 0.05), but this association lost significance after adjusting for socio-demographic and dietary factors. No significant relationship was found between cooking skills and diet quality (mean NRF 9.3 score: 333.4 ± 50.2; p > 0.05). Cooking and food preparation skills were not independently associated with diet quality or body weight after adjustment for potential confounding variables. These findings suggest that culinary skills alone are unlikely to improve dietary quality or weight status and should be integrated with broader nutrition and lifestyle interventions.