The purpose of this study was sought to assess the association between food preferences and Psychological well-being (PWB) in Chinese women undergoing perimenopause and whether the association is different between rural and urban areas.
This is a longitudinal study of 929 women in perimenopausal period participating in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) during 2009 and 2011. Preference for five kinds of food were assessed in face-to-face interviews and the PWB was measured by scoring three self-reported questions with a total score of 15. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions were used to estimate the longitudinal association between food preference and PWB scores. In fully adjusted models, dislike for fruits and like for sweetened beverages had regression coefficient (95% CI) for the PWB score of −1.26, (−2.21–0.321) and 0.66 (0.20–1.11), respectively. The above associations were only found among participants in urban areas, with corresponding regression coefficients of −2.61(95% CI = −4.83, −0.39) for dislike fruit and 1.02(95% CI = 0.09, 1.95) for like sweetened beverages.
In conclusion, PWB score was negatively associated with the dislike for fruit but positively associated with the preference for sweetened beverages, especially among participants from urban areas. The longitudinal data indicate that the PWB score of perimenopausal women might be improved by increasing the intake of fruit. Given the adverse effects of sweetened beverages, more research was need between PWB and the sweetened beverages.