Eating habits and behaviours, physical activity, nutritional and food safety knowledge and beliefs in an adolescent Italian population

Send This

Download

Comment

Favourite

more

Rating :

Rate It:

Embed :

Post a comment

Post Comment on Twitter Post Comment on SlideWorld

Comments:

Subscribe to follow-up comments

Notes

Hide Notes

Slide 1 :

Eating habits and behaviours, physical activity, nutritional and food safety knowledge and beliefs in an adolescent Italian population Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 27, No. 1, 31–43 (2008) Giovanna Turconi1, Marianna Guarcello1, Laura Maccarini2, Federica Cignoli1, Stefania Setti1, Rosella Bazzano1, Carla Roggi1 1Department of Applied Health Sciences - Section of Human Nutrition and Dietetics– Faculty of Medicine – University of Pavia – Italy 2 Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine – Faculty of Medicine – University of Pavia – Italy

Slide 2 :

During adolescence, young people are assuming responsibility for their own eating habits, health attitudes and behaviours. Indeed, attitudes play an important role in the adoption and maintenance of a variety of health and nutritional habits ? if habits acquired in adolescence persist into adult life, behaviours established in young people may have important long-term consequences for health

Slide 3 :

Knowledge about healthy food choices and food safety can be predisposing factors for improving eating habits and adopting a healthy diet, although it is insufficient to motivate healthy eating Factors influencing eating behaviours need to be better understood to develop effective nutrition interventions tailored to individuals to improve their healthy eating Determinants such as habits, attitudes, self-efficacy, barriers to change and the meaning of “healthy” and “unhealthy” diet and food must be considered

Slide 4 :

AIM OF THE STUDY To evaluate eating habits physical activity meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food self-efficacy possible barriers affecting healthy food choices nutritional and food safety knowledge in a selected group of adolescents in the Aosta Valley Region, Northern Italy In addition, adolescents’ weight and height were measured to compute BMI in order to investigate the possible relationship between BMI and the above mentioned variables

Slide 5 :

This study was carried out as part of a wider nutritional surveillance project that also included several nutritional assessment measurements, such as anthropometric (body weight, body height, skin folds and body circumferences) and functional parameters (blood pressure)

Slide 6 :

METHODS SAMPLING All the students of both sexes attending the second year of all the high schools (n = 17) in the Aosta Valley Region (a mostly mountainous area), Northern Italy n°= 889 subjects Responders: 535 subjects (60.2%) age 15.4 ±0.7 years 256 males (47.8%) 279 females (52.2%) Informed written consent was obtained from each student and their parents The research protocol was approved both by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pavia and by the Ethics Committee of the Regional Public Health Department of the Aosta Valley Region

Slide 7 :

QUESTIONNAIRE Previously constructed and tested with regard to its reliability (Turconi G et al, EJCN, 2003, 57:753-763) It was self-administered during school time under teacher’s and dietitian’s supervision It is divided into nine main sections Personal data Eating habits Physical activity Healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food Self-efficacy Barriers to change Nutritional knowledge Food safety knowledge Food safety and behaviour in hygiene practices It was evaluated assigning a specific score to each section

Slide 8 :

WEIGHT AND HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS FOR BMI CALCULATION Students’ weight and height were measured by health personnel (physicians and dietitians) according to standard conditions after setting up a classroom as a medical surgery in each school Body weight was measured on subjects wearing only underwear and without shoes by means of a steelyard scale (precision ? 100 g) Body height was measured on subjects without shoes by means of a stadiometer (precision ? 1 mm) BMI was calculated as a ratio between weight and height squared with weight in kilograms and height in meters (kg/m2)

Slide 9 :

DATA ANALYSES The total score of each section was divided into tertiles, with the lowest tertile assigned to the worst evaluation and the highest to the best evaluation, except for section 6 (barriers to change) for which the greater barriers to change were related to the highest tertile The scores obtained in each section are expressed as mean ? standard deviation The percentage distribution of students in each tertile score was calculated by using the statistical Package for the Social Sciences T-Student test was calculated to investigate differences in scores obtained by males and females, normal and over weight plus obese subjects Pearson’s correlation coefficients were computed to analyse the relationship between BMI and the investigated variables

Slide 10 :

Reference Standards Eating habits, physical activity, meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food, food safety and behaviour in hygiene practices were evaluated by comparing them with the Dietary Guidelines for Italians’ Healthy Diet According to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), Cole’s age-specific cut-off points reference standard for BMI was used to identify overweight and obesity in young age

Slide 11 :

RESULTS

Slide 12 :

Table 1 Sample characteristics a between parentheses, percentage of subjects

Slide 13 :

1.Eating habits (total score = 42) mean score = 29 ? 5 7.5% of the students show “inadequate eating habits” 55.5% have “partially satisfactory eating habits” 37.0% show “satisfactory eating habits” The worst eating habits are skipping breakfast (20% of the sample) 33.1% of males and 44.6% of females do not drink milk or yogurt at breakfast 92.1 % of the subjects do not eat at least two portions of fruit and vegetables every day for 25% of the sample, consumption of cakes and sweets is too high, in that a dessert or cake is always consumed at each meal

Slide 14 :

2.Physical Activity (total score = 18) mean score 11±3 29.7% of the subjects show a sedentary physical level In the leasure time 47.7% watch television, use the computer, listen to music, read a book 21.7% practice a sport 21.7% go for a walk Males are more active than females: 22.3% vs 15.1% A statistically significant difference was found between normal and overweight plus obese boys, with the highest score obtained by normal weight boys (12 ? 3 vs. 11 ? 3) (p=0.03)

Slide 15 :

3.Healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food (total score = 15) mean score 11±2 54.8% have sufficient comprehension of the meaning of healthy and unhealthy diet and food, while only one third (33.1%) have a good comprehension, with a higher proportion among females (39.4% v. 26.2%) for 70.7% of the sample a healthy diet is a diet rich in different foods, nevertheless only 47.3% of the subjects reported eating a varied diet every day 38.5% of the subjects answered that a healthy food is a food rich in protein

Slide 16 :

4.Self-efficacy (total score = 16) mean score 13±3 65.4% of the subjects reported being able to use advice aimed at improving their well-being, while 7.1% think they are not able to do this ”Do you think you are able to modify your diet, if needed?” 13.6% answered “I’m not able” 36.4% ” I don’t know”

Slide 17 :

5.Barriers to change (total score = 9) mean score 3±2 85.6% of the students have no barriers to change, with a higher proportion among females (87.8 % vs. 83.2%) 13.3% have some barrier to change, with a higher proportion among males (16.0% vs. 10.8%) ? Insufficient nutritional knowledge that prevents to choose healthy foods

Slide 18 :

6.Nutritional knowledge (total score = 11) mean score= 7±2 F, 6±2 M p<0.05 8.6% of the sample have quite good nutritional knowledge (higher among females) 49.2% of the subjects (most females) have good nutritional knowledge 42.2% of the students (most males) have insufficient nutritional knowledge The most frequent mistakes relate to: dietary fibre, food protein content and energy values ”Which is the nutrient that contains the most energy?” only 12.5% of the students answered fats

Slide 19 :

7.Food safety knowledge (total score = 10) mean score 3±2 70.1% of the adolescents have an insufficient food safety knowledge 27.5% have a good food safety knowledge only very few students (2.4%) have quite good safety knowledge

Slide 20 :

8.Food safety and behaviour in hygiene practices (total score = 24) mean score= 18±4 F, 16±4 M p<0.05 43.7% of the students have quite good behaviour in hygiene practices, mostly the girls (54.7%) when compared to the boys (31.5%) In response to the following questions “ Do you read the instructions for use and for preservation written on packaged foods?” “After drinking a glass of milk, do you usually put the bottle of milk back in the fridge?” “Do you eat canapés that have been left lying out for a long time at the bar?” “If the butcher touches ham with his hands without gloves, do you eat it?” only less than half of the students chose the right answer

Slide 21 :

Table 2 – Percentage distribution of subjects according to tertile scores a between parentheses, number of subjects

Slide 22 :

Table 3 - Scores obtained in the various questionnaire sections by males and females a lowest score b mean score ? Standard Deviation c highest score

Slide 23 :

Dietary questionnaire and BMI Dietary questionnaire scores were analysed in relation to students’ BMI, considering two groups: normal weight subjects versus overweight plus obese subjects No statistically significant differences emerged between the two groups for any sections of the dietary questionnaire except for section 3 relating to physical activity, for which normal weight boys obtained higher score (12 ± 3 score) than overweight plus obese ones (11 ± 3 score) (p=0.03) In addition, no significant correlation (p= N.S.) emerged between scores obtained in each section and BMI values, except for section 4 (healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food) where a negative correlation was found for the total sample (p< 0.001; R = - 0.71 )

Slide 24 :

DISCUSSION The present study of more than 500 15-year-old students provided results with implications for designing programs for health promotion and improvement in nutritional habits for adolescents

Slide 25 :

As far as BMI is concerned most of the adolescents are in the normal range of values according to Cole’s reference standards prevalence of overweight subjects in both sexes is high, but higher in males on the other hand, the prevalence rate of obese adolescents is low

Slide 26 :

the high percentage of overweight subjects is worrying, and preventive and corrective strategies need to be undertaken in school programs aimed at weight control and therefore at reducing this risk condition a few subjects are underweight under the 3rd centile, including just one male and seven females overweight is undoubtedly the most important problem in this Italian area

Slide 27 :

Data on eating habits show a low intake of milk and yogurt at breakfast as well as of fruit and vegetables high consumption of cakes and sweets In addition, about 20% of the adolescents do not have breakfast every day these results are inconsistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Italians’ healthy diet

Slide 28 :

As far as physical activity and lifestyle are concerned though most adolescents have moderate physical levels, about one third of the students show a sedentary lifestyle, with a higher proportion among females this result represents a typical adolescent habit consisting in spending many hours in sedentary activities (watching television, using the computer, listening to music, reading a book)

Slide 29 :

watching television has been linked with an unhealthy diet, high cholesterol levels and overweight and obesity this may be influenced by unhealthy nutrition messages in commercials, eating snack foods and decreased physical activity

Slide 30 :

As far as the meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits is concerned it is sufficiently known by the students the meaning of healthy food is less clear: indeed, 38.5% of the subjects report that a food rich in protein is the healthiest one

Slide 31 :

our results suggest that lay understanding of healthy eating does generally conform to dietary guidelines therefore health promotion priorities should focus on physical and psychological constraints to healthy eating, rather than attempting to increase the adolescents’ knowledge as a whole

Slide 32 :

In our study, perceived self-efficacy in modifying one’s own diet, if needed, has to be improved in agreement with the results of Roach et al who found that using behavioural techniques to improve self-efficacy can be effective in weight loss promotion and can produce positive outcomes

Slide 33 :

Barriers to change must also be considered in planning nutrition education programs The lack of students’ knowledge about increasing dietary fibre ingestion is the greatest barrier to change, followed by ignorance on how to satisfy their own energy expenditure and how to improve their own diet

Slide 34 :

Strategies for reducing dietary intake of sugar, fats and cholesterol are known by only one quarter of the students Nevertheless, in general, 85.6% of the subjects report that they have no barriers to change, leading one to think that the questionnaire somehow underestimated barriers against change

Slide 35 :

Nutritional knowledge is a predisposing factor for eating behaviours , even though voluntary behaviour improvement requires motivation, ability as well as the opportunity to improve one’s own behaviour our girls have better knowledge than boys, perhaps because they are more involved in meal preparation and in general they look after their body image more than boys

Slide 36 :

Ignorance about some nutrient content of foods, particularly concerning dietary fibre and protein, as well as about food energy content, indicates adolescents’ difficulties in translating nutritional advice into food choices in order to satisfy their own energy expenditure and to improve their own diet

Slide 37 :

Knowledge about food safety is very poor and is lower than nutritional knowledge The most important topics which students incorrectly answered are related to food toxinfection and to food preserving This fact is in contrast with behaviour in hygiene practices, as the score obtained is in general satisfactory, probably because behaviour was acquired as a family habit, without a good related knowledge Girls have better hygiene behaviour than boys, perhaps because they are more involved in meal preparation and cooking foods

Slide 38 :

CONCLUSIONS Different aspects of adolescents’ eating behaviour may be influenced by different factors, which need to be considered in designing nutrition promotion programs Nutrition and health professionals should tailor educational and treatment strategies according to the specific desired dietary outcomes

Slide 39 :

Interventions should help to make healthy eating easy for adolescents to apply and explain the consequences of unhealthy eating in terms that they value by means of stressing meaningful short and long-term benefits for human health providing nutritional and food safety knowledge increasing consciousness of healthy eating overcoming barriers to change supporting the adolescents in the adoption of healthy and more active lifestyle

Slide 40 :

Planning an incisive nutritional intervention on a selected sample of the population requires identification of its nutritional problems and primary needs The topics which could be targeted for intervention on our students are related to body weight control, including a body weight decrease in overweight and obese adolescents, by means of adopting healthy eating habits and behaviours and increasing physical activity

Slide 41 :

Current eating habits must be targeted for intervention, in particular by increasing intake of milk products, fruit and vegetables, decreasing sweet cake ingestion and promoting breakfast consumption Students need education about food nutrient and energy contents in order to make appropriate food choices The students’ lack of knowledge about foods, rather than dietary habits, suggest that foods should be a focus for nutrition education programs

Slide 42 :

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Italian Ministry of Health is thanked for supporting the research The health professionals of the Department of Public Health, Section of Food Hygiene and Nutrition, of the Aosta Valley Region are thanked for their collaboration

Obesity Treatment in...

A Theory of Knowledg...

Preparing to work in...

Untangling the Contr...

Allergic DiseasesRhi...

/Rad/2008RadLecture....

Free Powerpoint Templates

	gturconi@unipv.it 4 Years ago.



2964 Views, 0 favourite
PowerPoint Presentation on Eating habits and behaviours, physical activity, nutritional and food sa more PowerPoint Presentation on Eating habits and behaviours, physical activity, nutritional and food safety knowledge and beliefs in an adolescent Italian population or PowerPoint Presentation on less
More By User Flag as inappropriate Select your reason for flagging this presentation as inappropriate. If needed, use the feedback form to let us know more details. Cancel