en public specific orginal article <div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Background</span></span></span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">: Diet quality and lifestyle practices are important determinants of nutritional status and health. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">The present study assessed the dietary behavior, diet quality and lifestyle patterns among selected coastal fishing communities in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. <b>Methods: </b>A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 550 participants using simple random sampling. Data were collected using a self-developed validated interview schedule, Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), and the standardized Diet Quality Questionnaire developed by the Global Diet Quality Project. <b>Results: </b>Most participants belonged to the age groups of 36 to 55 years. Nearly half of the participants had normal body mass index (BMI), while over one-third were overweight and the majority were categorized as having high-risk waist-to-hip ratio. Self-reported diabetes mellitus and hypertension were reported by approximately one-third of the participants. Meal skipping was prevalent and following cereal and seafood-based diet was predominant among the participants. Moreover, tea was the most frequently consumed beverage. Diet quality assessment also revealed inadequate consumption of fruits, nuts and seeds and vitamin A rich oods. The mean Dietary Diversity Score and Global Dietary Recommendation Score were 4.72&plusmn;1.32 and 9.84&plusmn;1.28 respectively, indicating poor dietary diversity and suboptimal diet quality.<b> Conclusion: </b></span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">The study demonstrated inadequate dietary diversity and unhealthy lifestyle practices among the coastal fishing community. These findings emphasize the need for context-specific nutrition education and health promotion strategies to improve dietary quality and promote healthy lifestyle practices.</span></span></span></div> Dietary behavior, Diet quality, Fishermen, Food habits, Lifestyle. 581 589 http://jnfs.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1537-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Adithiyalakshmi Srinivasanarayanan adithiyaphdresources@gmail.com 0009-0003-6656-2436 Yes Avinashilingam Institute of Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641- 043 Sridevi Sivakami Palanivelu 0000-0002-3819-8994 No Avinashilingam Institute of Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641- 043