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Nutrition Label Use, Self-Efficacy, Snacking and Eating Behavior of Middle School Students in Kyunggi Area
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Seo Yeon Ko, Kyung Won Kim
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Korean J Community Nutr 2010;15(4):513-524. Published online August 31, 2010
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- This study was designed to examine nutrition label use, self-efficacy, snacking and eating behaviors of middle school students, and to investigate if these characteristics were different by nutrition label use. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to 348 middle school students in Kyunggi, Korea. About a third of subjects read nutrition labels when they purchased snacks/packaged foods. Most nutrition label users were interested in reading information on calories, fat and trans-fat. Self-efficacy of eating/selecting snacks or general nutrition behavior was moderate (mean score: 44.4 out of 60), with significantly higher score in nutrition label users compared to nonusers (p < 0.001). Nutrition label users felt more confident in 9 items out of 15 items of self-efficacy, such as "taking fruits instead of cookies/candy for snack" (p < 0.001), "choosing milk instead of soft drink" (p < 0.01), "not having snacks after dinner" and "avoiding processed foods for snacks" (p < 0.05). Subjects had snacks 1.3 times a day, and nutrition label nonusers consumed snacks more frequently than the counterparts (p < 0.01). About 55% of nutrition label users and 64.7% of nonusers mainly purchased snacks for themselves (p < 0.05). Commonly purchased snacks by adolescents were ice cream, cookies/chips, breads and ramen. Major considerations in purchasing snacks were taste (46.9%) and price (34.6%). In selecting snacks, the influence of friends and parents was greater than the other sources. Based on eating frequency of snacks, nutrition label users were more likely to consume healthy snacks, such as fruit juices, vegetables, milk, yogurt, and potato/sweet potato than nonusers (p < 0.05). Eating behaviors measured by 15 items scored 33.6 out of 45. Nutrition label users showed better eating behaviors, such as "eating meals slowly", "eating foods cooked with plant oil", and "eating out less frequently" (p < 0.05). Study results showed that majority of adolescents did not read nutrition labels, selected snacks for themselves and had somewhat unhealthy foods for snacks. This study also showed the differences in self-efficacy, snacking and eating behaviors between nutrition label users and nonusers. In nutrition education, it is necessary to stress the importance and skills for reading nutrition labels. It is also needed to help adolescents to select healthy snacks and have desirable eating behaviors, as well as increasing self-efficacy.
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Intakes and Beliefs of Vegetables and Fruits, Self-Efficacy, Nutrition Knowledge, Eating Behavior of Elementary School Students in Kyunggi Area
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Soo Young Na, Seo Yeon Ko, Sun Hee Eom, Kyung Won Kim
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Korean J Community Nutr 2010;15(3):329-341. Published online June 30, 2010
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- The purpose of this study was to examine vegetable & fruit (V/F) intakes, beliefs and self-efficacy regarding V/F consumption, nutrition knowledge and eating behavior of elementary students. A survey was conducted to the 4th graders (n = 234) at two elementary schools in Guri, Kyunggi-do. About one-fourth of subjects were overweight or obese. Subjects had 4.2 servings of V/F a day, consuming 340.2 g of V/F. Girls consumed significantly more amounts of vegetables than boys (p < 0.05). Girls were more favorable regarding V/F consumption (p < 0.01), and believed more strongly on advantages of having V/F such as "good for skin", constipation prevention (p < 0.001) and cancer prevention (p < 0.05). Boys felt more strongly in disadvantages or barriers of eating V/F, including mother's cooking time constraints (p < 0.01), lack of past experience of eating V/F, and family members' disliking of V/F (p < 0.05). Girls felt more confident in eating V/F (p < 0.05) than boys; they also felt more confident in specific items of "eating fruits/salads instead of cookies/chips for snack" and "eating fruit juice/vegetable juice instead of soda" (p < 0.01). Subjects showed low level of nutrition knowledge, especially in items such as balanced meals, recommended servings of V/F and vitamin deficiency. Compared to boys, girls had more desirable eating behavior such as eating adequate amount of meals (p < 0.001), having a variety of foods, eating fruits daily, and having fatty foods less frequently (p < 0.05). Intakes of Ca and K were quite below the recommended level, while the intakes of protein, Na and vitamin A intake were much above the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for 9-11 old children. Nutrient intakes expressed as %DRI was higher in girls for vitamin A (p < 0.01), energy and riboflavin (p < 0.05). High V/F consumption group (> or = 5 servings of V/F a day) compared to the counterparts showed higher self-efficacy and had better eating behaviors. Nutrition education for children should focus on increasing consumption of V/F, by helping them to increase self-efficacy for eating V/F and to recognize the benefits and reduce the barriers of eating V/F, especially in boys. It is also needed to provide nutrition information for balanced meals or increasing V/F consumption, and help the children to adopt desirable eating behavior.
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Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Program for Elementary School Children
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Yun Ahn, Seo Yeon Ko, Kyung Won Kim
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Korean J Community Nutr 2009;14(3):266-276. Published online June 30, 2009
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- The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the nutrition education program for elementary school children. Subjects were 5th graders (n = 142) of an elementary school in Seoul, and 138 children completed four sessions of nutrition education during March-April, 2008. One group pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the program effectiveness. Anthropometric measurements and measurements on nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and eating behavior were done before and after education. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, t-test and chi-sqaretest. After completing nutrition education, body mass index (from 19.3 to 18.9), fat mass (from 10.9 kg to 10.1 kg), percent body fat (from 25% to 23.3%) of subjects decreased significantly (p< 0.001). Percentages of overweight or obese children were 24.6% at pretest and decreased to 20.3% at posttest, although it did not reach statistical significance. Total score of nutrition knowledge increased significantly from 11.9 (59.5/100) at pretest to 14.7 (73.5/100) at posttest (p< 0.001). After nutrition education, percentages of correct answers increased significantly in 10 knowledge items out of 20 items. These included items such as desirable weight control, energy requirements for boys, food groups, snack, and function of fat and balanced meals (p< 0.001). Total score of eating attitudes increased significantly from 35.1 to 36.9 (p< 0.001). Attitude of applying nutrition knowledge to daily life (p< 0.001), interest toward nutrition and health (p< 0.001), attitude of moderating food intake (p< 0.01), and attitude toward eating habit and future health (p< 0.05) were significantly different between pretest and posttest. Total score of eating behaviors increased significantly from 46.7 (possible score: 20-60) to 49.5 by nutrition education (p< 0.001). Improvement in eight eating behaviors were noticed after nutrition education. These included eating meals slowly, eat protein foods (p< 0.001), eating breakfast, eating meals regularly, eating meals with diverse foods, having dairy foods, eating foods using plant oils (p< 0.01), and having grains (p< 0.05). Subjects evaluated quite positively in attractiveness of program, understanding of program contents, helpfulness of program in improving nutrition knowledge and meal management. Study results show that the nutrition education program was effective in improving nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and changing eating behaviors of children. This program can be used in nutrition education of children at school or at public health centers
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