Since diet consists of complex food, assessment of diet using diet quality is
preferable. Literatures found eating behavior was related to diet quality. This study
aimed to see association of eating behavior and diet quality among adults living
urban and rural area. A cross sectional study in East Java was conducted with 185
total subjects. This study used propotional proportion to size to select villages in
selected urban and rural area. Structured questionnaire and 2 x 24-h food recall were
used in the study. To assess diet quality, average intake was scored using diet
quality index – international (DQI-I). The results showed significant association of
eating behavior towards living area in term of meal frequency, eating place during
lunch and dinner, also breakfast habit. People in urban mostly ate 1-2 meals, ate
outside home, and skipped breakfast. Compared to urban population, rural
population mostly ate 3 meals per day, and had lower percentage of eating out and
breakfast skippers. The study also found significant difference of diet quality score
(total score, score of adequacy, score of moderation, and score of overall balance)
between urban and rural adults. Generally, people in urban had lower score of diet
quality compared to people in rural. In addition, snacking frequency was found
influencing diet quality in urban. People who had no snack was found having higher
risk to have diet quality score below median compared to snack eaters. However,
promotion on choosing healthy snack should be addressed since some of snack
consumed by adults could trigger excessive intake of fats. Among various snacks
available in the society, fruits is more prefarable to improve quality of diet.

Keywords: diet quality, eating behavior, adults, urban, rural