Journal of nutrition education最新文献

The objective of this research was to examine how consumers use health-related food endorsements on food labels. Three endorsement programs were examined: those of the two major retailers in the United Kingdom, Tesco and Sainsbury's, and the “Pick the Tick” program of the National Heart Foundation of Australia. The main methodology used was protocol analysis. This involves the subject “thinking aloud” while performing a task—in this case, (a) shopping normally and (b) shopping “healthily” for foods on a predetermined list—to generate a protocol. Each subject was also interviewed to investigate reported use of endorsements. Subjects were a quota sample (N = 44) of shoppers representative of the U.K. and Australian populations. Information about the subjects, the protocols, and interview data were analyzed quantitatively; the protocols were also analyzed qualitatively. Sainsbury's and Australian shoppers never used the endorsements when shopping but Tesco shoppers did, albeit rarely. Tesco shoppers used the endorsement in complex ways and not just as a trigger to food selection. They sometimes used the endorsement to reject endorsed foods. Subjects claimed to use the endorsements even though the protocol analysis revealed no actual use. There are features of the Tesco endorsement program that make it more helpful to consumers than the other programs.

This article describes some of the approaches used and challenges encountered conducting nutrition education research in junior high schools. The Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS) study recruited 16 schools and over 3800 seventh graders to participate in an intervention to increase students' intakes of fruits, vegetables, and lower fat foods for the purpose of reducing their future risk of cancer. The TEENS intervention included a classroom curriculum as well as a school environment and family component. This article describes some of the issues faced in the design and implementation of the study including recruiting schools and teens, maximizing the number of students within each intervention school exposed to all components of the intervention, and implementing elements of nutrition education in a classroom setting. The methods used to meet these challenges and the success of the methods attempted are described.

This systematic review sought to answer the question what is the effectiveness of community-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in people 4 years of age and older? A search was conducted through electronic databases, hand-searching, and retrieval from reference lists. Each article retrieved was rated for relevance and validity by two independent readers, and then data abstraction was done by two people for the studies that were rated as strong or moderate. One hundred and eighty-nine articles were retrieved. Sixty were rated as relevant. After validity rating, one was rated “strong,” 17 “moderate,“ and 42 “weak.” Four studies were targeted to parents of young children, six to school-aged children, and five to adults. The most effective interventions gave clear messages about increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; incorporated multiple strategies that reinforced the messages; involved the family; were more intensive; were provided over a longer period of time, rather than one or two contacts; and were based on a theoretical framework. People in public health positions or making decisions about nutrition interventions need to give priority to those interventions that are multipronged, flexible, open to input from target groups, and theoretically based.

This study aimed to increase our understanding of family meal patterns among adolescents. A school-based survey was completed by 252 junior and senior high school students. Nearly a third (30.7%) reported that their families had eaten a meal together at least seven times over the past week, but a similar percentage (31.9%) reported two or fewer family meals over the past week. Frequent television viewing during meals was reported by about half (52.8%) of the respondents. Adolescents reported feeling more certain about making health ful food choices at family meals than in other eating situations. Findings from this pilot study indicate that further investigations of family meal patterns among youth and the associations between family meals and eating behaviors are warranted.

The purpose of this study was to test an ecological model designed to identify social and environmental factors that encourage local produce buying. Pre- and postintervention surveys in June and September 1997 measured local produce purchasing and factors identified by the model. At three mid-sized worksites in a rural Maine community, the response rate was 68% (135 employees) preintervention and 61% (124) postmtervention. For 6 weeks, workers were given the opportunity to order local produce at work; to see, taste, and read about the produce; and to see coworkers sample and buy it. Associations were examined between increased purchases of locally grown produce outside the workplace and ordering at work, proportion of friends who ordered, degree of satisfaction with orders ascribed to coworkers, and degree of satisfaction with the project ascribed to management. McNemar's test and chi-square analyses were the statistical analyses performed. Purchasing locally grown produce at work apparently motivated consumers to purchase local produce outside the workplace. Workers’ observations of coworker and management participation in and satisfaction with the project were associated with increased purchasing outside the workplace. Sales at worksites offer a potentially important way to increase purchases of locally grown produce.

This qualitative study explored perimenopausal women's perceptions and experiences of continuity and change in dietary behavior. This study used a naturalistic paradigm and three in-depth qualitative interviews over a 13-month period. A purposive sample of 23 perimenopausal women was recruited from community health centers and social organizations in rural and urban areas of Québec.The semistructured interview guide focused on dietary and lifestyle changes, health and body changes, social roles, and the menopause experience. Grounded theory analysis was performed on the transcribed interviews. Women's narratives described three types of dietary trajectories: unsuccessful dieting, small change, and progressive change. Women with similar trajectories shared experiences with food, dieting practices, self-efficacy, and transition in the maternal role. Although most women reported continuing on the same dietary trajectory for most of their adult lives, a few described changes in their diets. Some women associated their small changes in diet with being informed of the potential development of chronic diseases, whereas others radically changed their diets following life events such as the development of an illness. Menopause per se was not perceived by women as a time for dietary change. Health and nutrition professionals could improve the impact of their efforts by recognizing the contribution of past dietary behavior to current dietary practices. Dietary advice would also benefit from being tailored to women's existing dietary trajectories.