Parental messages and the nutrition awareness of preschool children

Questionnaires were developed to assess the early nutrition-related knowledge and attitudes of preschool children and the types of messages that their parents give to them about nutrition. Subjects were 104 children, aged 3½ to 3¾ years, and their mothers, enrolled in the longitudinal Western Massachusetts Growth Study. The children showed significant levels of nutrition knowledge in the areas of food groups, food transformations, food origins, and energy balance. They also demonstrated some ability to judge relative food values: more children selected foods of higher, rather than lower, nutrient density in a role-play situation, as being the foods which would help a doll “grow big and strong.” Parental messages about foods and nutrition, derived from open-ended questions asked of the mothers, were categorized into the following groups: passive and non-verbal, example, discouragement or encouragement, general nutrition, specific nutrition, physical, bribes and rewards, and authoritarian messages. The quantity and specificity of nutrition-related messages given by parents and about foods were significantly and positively correlated to the children's nutrition knowledge scores. This study documents a significant level of nutrition awareness among young children, and highlights the importance of early parent-child communication patterns in the development of this nutrition awareness.     

Nutrition Marketing on Food Labels

ObjectiveThis research sought to determine how often nutrition marketing is used on labels of foods that are high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar.Design and SettingAll items packaged with food labels (N = 56,900) in all 6 grocery stores in Grand Forks, ND were surveyed.Main Outcome Measure(s)Marketing strategy, nutrient label information, if the product was fruit/or milk based, and target age.AnalysisFrequency distributions were computed.ResultsForty-nine percent of all products contained nutrition marketing and of those, 48% had both nutrition marketing and were high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar (11%, 17%, and 31% respectively). Seventy-one percent of products marketed to children had nutrition marketing. Of those, 59% were high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar content, with more than half being high in sugar. The most commonly used nutrition marketing statements were “good source of calcium”, “reduced/low/fat free”, and “food company's health symbol”.Conclusions and ImplicationsNutrition marketing is commonly used on products high in saturated fat, sodium and/or sugar and is more often used on products marketed toward children than products marketed toward adults. Current food industry symbols may not be helping consumers select foods low in saturated fat, sodium or sugar.     

Food Purchase Patterns at the Supermarket and their Relationship to Family Characteristics

The purpose of this study was to develop a system for characterizing food purchases by families using supermarket receipt data. One hundred and five shoppers contributed data that represented 363 people (138 children and 225 adults). Participants provided food purchase receipt data for at least 6 weeks, which included an average of at least 20 food items/week. Receipt information was entered by trained technicians for analysis using a database of over 2600 distinct foods containing nutritional information. Eighty-five percent of the items on the store receipts were identifiable by item and quantity from the information printed on the receipt; the data on the remaining items was determined by shopper annotation or by use of a default value. The average percent of energy purchased as fat by this convenience sample was 38.4%, total fiber purchased was 6.61 g/1000 kcal, and number of servings of fruits and vegetables was 1.44/1000 kcal. All foods were divided among 11 categories to evaluate the contributions of particular food groups to energy, fat, and fiber purchase.The three major contributors to fat purchase were, in order, “add-on and cooking fats;” “meats, poultry, and fish;” and “dairy.” Purchased fiber came primarily from “produce,” with “breads” and “cereals” next in proportion. The families at highest risk for poor nutrition quality of purchases were those with lower socioeconomic status, more children, and younger age of the primary shopper. This receipt collection system was successful in providing specific nutrition data on purchases of over 100 families. The assessment system is unique in that tracking of shopping patterns of individual families can be accomplished.     

EsKiMo – Das Ernährungsmodul im Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitssurvey (KiGGS)

In a module of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), the dietary behaviour of 6-17-year-olds was assessed from January to December 2006. The study, named EsKiMo (Eating Study as a KiGGS Module), was performed by the Robert Koch Institute together with the division of nutrition and consumer education at the University of Paderborn. It was funded by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Parents of participants younger than 12 years were asked to conduct a 3-day dietary record. Participants of 12 years and older were personally interviewed about their eating behaviour during the last four weeks using DISHES (Dietary Interview Software for Health Examination Studies). In addition, they were asked to fill in the KiGGS food frequency questionnaire a second time. Furthermore, all participants were asked about their socio-demographic background, leisure time activities, supplement use, meals at school, body weight and height. The study will provide up-to-date, representative data on the nutrition of children and adolescents in Germany. The analyses will include the amounts of foods and food groups consumed as well as the nutrient intake. By connecting these nutrition data with other health data from KiGGS, comprehensive analyses of relationships between nutrition and health are possible.     

Preschool teachers' attitudes towards nutritional information on food labels in Turkey and recommendations for an educational programme

The objective of this study was to evaluate preschool teachers' attitudes towards nutrition labels. A sample of 154 preschool teachers was surveyed to determine their label-reading behaviours and knowledge. A total of 71.5% of the preschool teachers reported that they read food labels when purchasing food items (i.e. rather often or sometimes). Turkish preschool teachers who are frequent nutrition label users are relatively younger, at the age of 25-40 years and university graduates. Preschool teachers' lack of interest in many of the terms in nutrition labels seemed to correspond with their lack of knowledge about them. It is concluded that nutrition labelling education education programmes can help preschool teachers to use nutrition labels to improve the quality of their diets. Since preschool teachers are regarded as the single most important factor in creating an effective and inclusive class for children, teaching is a effective tool for behavioural changes in nutrition.     

Preschool teachers’ attitudes towards nutritional information on food labels in Turkey and recommendations for an educational programme

The objective of this study was to evaluate preschool teachers’ attitudes towards nutrition labels. A sample of 154 preschool teachers was surveyed to determine their label‐reading behaviours and knowledge. A total of 71.5% of the preschool teachers reported that they read food labels when purchasing food items (i.e. rather often or sometimes). Turkish preschool teachers who are frequent nutrition label users are relatively younger, at the age of 25–40 years and university graduates. Preschool teachers’ lack of interest in many of the terms in nutrition labels seemed to correspond with their lack of knowledge about them. It is concluded that nutrition labelling education education programmes can help preschool teachers to use nutrition labels to improve the quality of their diets. Since preschool teachers are regarded as the single most important factor in creating an effective and inclusive class for children, teaching is a effective tool for behavioural changes in nutrition.     

郑州市大学生食品营养标签使用情况调查

目的 了解大学生食品营养标签使用情况,为开展相关营养教育提供依据。方法 采取整群抽样的方式,对郑州市三所高校1 960名在校大学生进行问卷调查。结果 大学生食品营养标签知识得分均值12.1±2.8分（总分24分）,不同性别、专业、年级、学习过营养课程与否、家庭居住地、母亲文化程度均值比较,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05),获取食品营养标签知识的途径主要以电视、广播为主（1 431人占78.9%）,有652（35.9%）人能够完全答对食品营养标签内容;使用营养标签态度上:有1 376（75.8%）人认为在食品包装上标示营养标签有必要,1 015（55.9%）人对营养标签标示内容表示信任;使用行为上:购买食品时经常浏览营养标签的有466（25.7%）人。结论 郑州市大学生的食品营养标签知识水平不高,对食品上标示营养标签态度积极,但使用率低,获取食品营养标签知识途径单一,今后学校应利用多种渠道,加强宣教,引导大学生消费时养成阅读营养标签的习惯。     

Do hedonic- versus nutrition-based attitudes toward food predict food choices? a cross-sectional study of 6- to 11-year-olds

Background

Implicit and explicit attitudes are potential precursors of food choices and combine affective and cognitive components that can vary in their relative dominance. Yet, the affective and cognitive components of attitudes toward food can lead to distinct predisposition toward a food item and potentially to different food choices. In the food domain, the affective component pertains to the hedonic tone of consumption, while the cognitive component encompasses nutritional value or health consequences of food. The present study investigated whether hedonic- versus nutrition-based implicit and/or explicit attitudes toward food predicts children’s healthy versus unhealthy food choices.

Methods

A total of 63 children (age range?=?6.3–11.5) participated in a 90-min session at 5 pm (i.e., afterschool snack time in France). The children were asked to choose five food items from a buffet featuring five healthy and five unhealthy sweet foods pretested as being highly liked. Children ate what they had chosen. Moreover, their implicit attitudes were assessed with a pairing task in which children were presented with 10 food triplets and asked to choose two food items that “best go together”. For each triplet, foods could be paired according to their hedonic or nutritional characteristics. Explicit attitudes were assessed with a task in which children placed each of 48 food items into one of the following categories: “yummy”, “yucky” (i.e., hedonic categories), “makes you strong”, or “makes you fat” (i.e., nutritional categories).

Results

Both implicit and explicit attitudes significantly influenced children’s food choices. We observed that children with more hedonic-based implicit or explicit attitudes toward food were more likely to choose healthy food options from the buffet. Conversely, children with both implicit and explicit nutrition-based attitudes chose less healthy foods.

Conclusions

Hedonic-based attitudes toward food seem to drive healthier food choices in children compared with nutrition-based attitudes in this particular eating context. These findings suggest that pleasure from eating might be an ally with regard to healthy eating among children. Additional research is needed to understand the etiology of children’s attitudes toward food in order to provide insights on how to shape adequate children’s attitudes to guide them toward healthy food choices.

     

Unplanned Nutrition Education in the Schools: Sugar in Elementary Reading Texts

Analysis of food content in 1,666 readers, prereaders and reading workbooks for grades K-3 revealed an undue emphasis upon sweets in both words and pictures. Cake alone accounted for one of every 12 food appearances. While fruits and vegetables were pictured slightly more often than sugar-rich foods, they were related to actual food consumption far less frequently than sweets. By publisher, other food groups accounted for 10% or less of all food pictures and 15% or less of all food words. Snacks, treats and parties appeared more often as occasions for eating than regular meals, excluding picnics. Families were rarely presented eating together and little attention was devoted to the nutritional value of food. Knowledge children acquire from the media and other sources before attending school has been identified as a force counteracting nutrition education, but unintended messages conveyed in K-3 readers also may work against the promotion of healthy eating habits. Reading texts should be screened for nutritional content before adoption and revised to reduce the appearance of sweets in accord with national dietary goals. Nutrition education must extend beyond teaching the basic four food groups to help children recognize how their food choices are affected by environmental influences, inside as well as outside of school.     

Development and promotion of Malaysian Dietary Guidelines

Development and promotion of dietary guidelines is one of the key activities outlined in the National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia for the prevention of nutrition-related disorders. The first official Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (MDG) was published in 1999 and was thoroughly reviewed and launched on 25 March 2010. The new MDG 2010 is a compilation of science-based nutrition and physical activity recommendations. These guidelines form the basis of consistent and scientifically sound nutrition messages for the public. There are 14 key messages and 55 recommendations, covering the whole range of food and nutrition issues, from importance of consuming a variety of foods to guidance on specific food groups, messages to encourage physical activities, consuming safe food and beverages and making effective use of nutrition information on food labels. The MDG also has an updated food pyramid. Various efforts have been made to ensure that the revised MDG is disseminated to all stakeholders. The Ministry of Health has organised a series of workshops for nutritionists and other health care professionals, and the food industry. In collaboration with other professional bodies and the private sector, the Nutrition Society of Malaysia has been promoting the dissemination and usage of the MDG to the public through a variety of formats and channels. These include the publication of a series of leaflets, educational press articles, educational booklets, as well as through educational activities for children. It is imperative to monitor the usage and evaluation of these dietary messages.     

Commentary: Protein and amino acid needs for adults

The objectives of this study are to: (a) assess Latino's nutrition knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and sources of nutrition information, and (b) examine the association of these with language use at home. Household‐to‐household interviews were conducted in five predominantly Latino neighborhoods in Hartford, Connecticut in households with at least one child ≤ 12 years of age. The typical Latina respondent was a woman in her early 30s who was the mother of at least one child living in the household (N = 426). The vast majority of Latinos were Puerto Rican (95.8%) and they spoke only Spanish (41.8%), only English (6.1%) or both English and Spanish (52.1%) at home. As many as 73.9% of respondents received food stamps and only 9.2% had more than high school education. Respondents were familiar with the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid (93.4%) and with food labels (93.7%). Fifteen percent knew the recommended servings for breads and cereals and 18.3% reported reading food labels always.

Respondents had a positive nutrition attitude but lacked specific knowledge of terms such as “saturated fat” and “neural tube defects”, and were unable to identify good food sources of folate, calcium, and vitamin A. Friends/relatives, doctor, WIC, and television were the main sources of nutrition information. Speaking only Spanish at home (vs English or English and Spanish) was associated with nutrition knowledge and attitudes, and a more traditional pattern of food consumption.     

Food labels: A critical assessment

ObjectiveFoods sold in packages have both front-of-package (FOP) labels and back-of-package (BOP) labels. The aim of this review is to determine the role they play in informing consumers as to the composition of foods in order to help select a healthy diet.MethodsRecent literature was evaluated and findings combined with assessments made by the authors of food labels used in the United States and Canada.ResultsResearch shows that most consumers have difficulty understanding the information provided by both FOP and BOP food labels used in the United States and Canada. Research has evaluated the merits of alternative designs. FOP labels should be based on a clear and simple design. They should present information on key nutrients (total fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium or salt) and also energy value. They should have color and words that indicate “high,” “medium,” and “low” levels. Labels can also state quantity per serving. The traffic light system is the best example of this design. An extra traffic light indicating the overall health value of the food should be added. A clearer BOP label also is needed. Implementation of a new food labeling system will probably be opposed by the food industry. More research is needed into which food label designs are most effective, especially for persuading consumers to select healthier food.ConclusionsBoth FOP and BOP food labels used in the United States and Canada need to be redesigned using a traffic light system.     

Food attitudes, eating behavior, and the information underlying food attitudes

This research examined healthiness perceptions and how the information underlying food attitudes more generally relate to attitudes and behaviors. Participants completed attitudinal measures and various card-sorting tasks in which they rank ordered foods (pictures and/or nutrition labels) in terms of healthiness. Taste was found to be a stronger predictor of attitudes and past eating behavior than other information underlying attitudes (health, guilt, comfort). Furthermore, participants' healthiness rankings of pictures were not correlated to rankings of the corresponding nutrition labels, suggesting that when determining a food's healthiness, participants do not rely on (or are not aware of) the actual nutritional makeup.     

Food nutrition label use is associated with demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial factors and dietary intake among African Americans in North Carolina

OBJECTIVE: Reading nutrition labels on food packages may improve food choices and enable healthful dietary practices. This report describes the prevalence of nutrition label use and its association with demographic, behavioral, and psychological factors and diet among African-American adults. DESIGN/SUBJECTS: Self-reported data from a population-based cross-sectional survey of 658 African Americans, aged 20 to 70 years, in North Carolina. An 11-page questionnaire assessed nutrition label use, fruit and vegetable consumption, total and saturated fat intakes, fat-related dietary behaviors, diet-related psychosocial factors, and demographic and behavioral characteristics. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Chi2 tests and logistic regression analyses examined associations of demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors with nutrition label use. Linear regression was used to estimate the variation in diet explained by label use. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 43.9+/-11.6 years, 41% were men, 37% were college graduates, and 75% were overweight/obese. Seventy-eight percent of respondents read nutrition labels when they purchased packaged foods. Nutrition label use was significantly higher among participants who were women, older, educated beyond high school, and obese (P <.05). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, the strongest psychosocial predictors of nutrition label use were healthful eating self-efficacy, strong belief in a diet-cancer relationship, and trying to lose weight. Usual/often label users had higher fruit and vegetable consumption and lower fat intakes (P <.001), and nutrition labels explained 2% to 17% of the variance in dietary intake. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition information on packaged foods appears to be a useful way to conduct point-of-purchase nutrition education among African Americans in North Carolina. Most respondents used food labels at least sometimes, but only about half usually or often did so. Efforts should be made to determine how all consumers could use nutrition labels effectively.     

Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Fruits and Vegetables among Low-income Women in the WIC Program

This article describes formative research conducted as part of a study aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Focus group discussions and central location intercept interviews were conducted with WIC participants to answer questions such as (1) What are their food shopping, preparation, and eating habits? (2) What perceptions do they have about fruits and vegetables? (3) What barriers do they face to increased consumption of fruits and vegetables? and (4) What motivations and messages might be effective in promoting increased consumption? Results indicated that these women, while generally responsible for food shopping and preparation, did not cook extensively.They reported many positive perceptions of fruits and vegetables, but also identified barriers to increasing consumption, including lack of availability, time and effort to prepare, and preference for other foods. Several implications for nutrition interventions were suggested. First, a key motivation for these women was being a good role model for their children, suggesting a persuasive appeal to use in interventions. Second, review of the women's current eating behaviors led to an identification of five specific behaviors that had the most potential for increasing overall consumption. Finally, the findings suggested ways in which nutrition interventions could address each of the barriers identified.     

Not All Nutrition Claims Are Perceived Equal: Anchoring Effects and Moderating Mechanisms in Food Advertising

Despite the increased use of health claims in food advertising, few studies have investigated how specific nutrition claims have differential effects depending on how they are presented. In this context, the current study tests the anchoring hypothesis. Anchoring refers to a common human tendency to evaluate information differently depending on the presence or absence of a numerical “anchor” or reference point. Two (pilot and main) experimental studies explore anchoring effects on audience response to food advertising both directly and moderated by cognitive, motivational, and message factors. The pilot study finds that food product ads employing nutrition claims with an anchor rather than without an anchor generate two results: First, participants perceive the product to have lower fat/lower calorie contents (anchoring hypothesis); second, they prefer the messages with an anchor over those without an anchor. The main study reports that when anchoring is successfully evoked, it produces favorable attitudes toward the ad, favorable attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intention—but only when moderated by health orientation, claim believability, and nutrition knowledge. Practical implications are provided with respect to regulatory guidelines and effective communication strategies for promoting low-fat and low-calorie products in food advertising.     

Questioning the Dietary Acculturation Paradox: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Relationship between Food and Ethnic Identity in a Group of Mexican-American Women

Background

Epidemiological studies have described an “acculturation paradox.” Increased acculturation to the United States is associated with increased consumption of dietary fat and decreased consumption of fruits/vegetables.