Introduction:

Healthy eating habits are related to a lower prevalence of chronic diseases.

Objective:

Verify the relationship between eating behaviors and self-perceived health (SPH) in young, middle-aged, and older adults.

Materials and methods:

This is a cross-sectional study with 52166 Brazilian adults aged 18 years and over. The dependent variable was positive SPH, whereas the independent variable was the eating behavior (exchanging lunch for snacks; exchanging dinner for snacks; intake of beans, ultra-processed food the previous day, fruits, vegetables, and processed juices/soft drinks). Poisson regression with robust adjustment for variance was used in the data analysis.

Results:

The relationship between eating behaviors and SPH was similar between genders. However, a more evident relationship was observed among young adults, regarding the age group. The consumption of fruits and vegetables was most clearly associated with SPH among the investigated behaviors. Furthermore, the higher the number of positive eating behaviors, the higher the prevalence of positive SPH in both genders and all age groups.

Conclusion:

The findings of this study reinforce the importance of healthy eating behaviors for health and indicate a more direct relationship between these and positive SPH in young adults and as a habit of regularly consuming fruits and vegetables.