==== Front Innov Aging Innov Aging innovateage Innovation in Aging 2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 10.1093/geroni/igaa057.079 igaa057.079 Abstracts Session 2814 (Paper) Social Isolation and Social Support AcademicSubjects/SOC02600 How Loneliness, Depressed Mood, and Diet Affect Eating Habits and Grocery Shopping Solway Erica 1 Singer Dianne 1 Malani Preeti 2 Kullgren Jeffrey 1 Kirch Matthias 1 Leung Cindy 1 Wolfson Julia 3 1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States 2 University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States 3 University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States 2020 16 12 2020 16 12 2020 4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”24 25 © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract This study examined the prevalence of loneliness and relationship with cooking and eating habits among older adults using data collected in December 2019 from a nationally representative sample age 50-80 through the National Poll on Healthy Aging. Older adults who live alone were more likely those who lived with others (19% vs. 8%) and those with a high PHQ-2 score were more like than those with a low PHQ-2 score (20% vs. 11%) to report that they do not cook dinner most days (0-2 times/week). Those who rated their diet as fair/poor were more likely to indicate they cook few meals a week (0-2) compared to those who reported a good or very good/excellent diet (18% vs. 11 % vs 8%). Those with a high PHQ-2 score were less likely than those with a low PHQ-2 score to say they do major food shopping less than once a week (31% vs 47%). Those with a high PHQ-2 score were more likely to say that that always ate alone in the last week compared to those with a low PHQ-2 score (17% vs 7%). These findings demonstrate that older adults who lived alone, had a higher PHQ-2 score, and had a poorer diet were more likely to cook and do grocery shopping less often. Strategies and policies to support older adults to address depressive symptoms and to increase cooking and improve diet may have many health and social benefits and will be explored through this session.