Cultural differences in food and shape related attitudes and eating behavior are associated with differences of Body Mass Index in the same food environment: cross-sectional results from the Seafarer Nutrition Study of Kiribati and European seafarers on merchant ships.

For Kiribati seafarers the nutrition situation on board represents a highly tempting westernized food environment. Their tendency to disinhibited eating facilitates overconsumption and weight gain, and self-evaluation of their shapes as being thinner than comparable Europeans may hamper appropriate weight control behavior.