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Background: The practice of eating together, also called commensality, is commonly perceived as beneficial, particularly for the nutritional status and psychosocial well-being of older adults. In contrast, eating alone is treated as a risk factor for various health-related outcomes, and is for example associated with unhealthy food habits and depression. Despite this, the literature remains inconclusive on whether eating alone is inherently problematic. Currently, research has predominantly focused on the objective dimension of eating alone – its frequency. However, considering the subjective experience of eating alone may offer valuable insights into its effects on food- and health-related outcomes, allowing for a nuanced understanding of when and for whom eating alone becomes an issue.

Setup: A cross-sectional study examined a nationally representative sample of 70-75-year-old community-living Swedes, exploring eating alone as both an objective and subjective construct. Food-related outcomes, such as food index scores, intake of specific food groups, consumption of ready-made meals, and frequency of main meals per day, were assessed.

Results and Discussion: The study comprised 695 participants, evenly distributed by gender and living arrangement (76% cohabiting, 24% living alone). Notably, 28% reported consuming a majority of meals alone, but only 7% of them expressed this to be bothersome. Preliminary findings on the relationship between eating alone and food-related outcomes will be discussed during the presentation.

Learning outcomes: During the presentation, commensality and the phenomenon of eating alone will be discussed in the context of healthy aging. Main focus will be on this study and food-related outcomes, but also followed with conclusive thoughts from the overarching PhD project in which this study was conducted.