Younger age and a sedentary lifestyle are associated with higher use of meal delivery apps among Brazilian adults (CUME+ study).

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigated meal delivery app (MDA) use and associated factors among Brazilian adults in the CUME+ study. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle and app use data were collected online. Chi-square tests and Poisson's regressions were performed. Among 839 participants, 76.52% reported using MDAs, particularly adults aged 30-39 years (40.03%) and full-time workers (77.10%). App users exhibited more sedentary behaviours (p < 0.05), including fewer hours of household activities, longer sitting and screen time. Regular user (≥1 time/week) was reported by 27.10%. In the adjusted model, adults aged 40-49 years had a lower prevalence of regular use than those aged 30-39 years (p = 0.042), while sitting ≥8 h/day doubled its prevalence compared with ≤3 h/day (p = 0.008). Insufficiently active (p = 0.030) and active (p = 0.027) individuals had a lower prevalence of use than inactive ones. Among regular users, 51.70% ordered meal dishes and 39.70% snacks half of the time or more. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring these platforms for nutritional surveillance.