Objectives This study was conducted to identify the awareness and practice of reducing sugar in school meals and the status of nutrition education regarding sugar reduction. Methods An online survey was conducted on 101 nutrition teachers (dietitians) working at elementary, middle, and high schools in Daegu. Results School nutrition teachers in Daegu recognized the need for efforts to reduce the sugar intake in the Korean diet, and it was found that elementary nutrition teachers were more aware of the implementation of the sugar reduction policy at the national level than middle and high school nutrition teachers (P = 0.002). Among the policies to reduce sugar intake at the national level, there was a high need for the promotion of self-control and limiting the sales of food with high sugar content in schools and their vicinity. The degree of practice for reducing sugar in school meals was found to be higher in the preparation, purchase, and cooking stage compared to the serving stage (P < 0.05). There was a high need for changing the preferences of the subjects for a sweet taste as a means of reducing the sugar in school meals. Thirty-six percent of nutrition teachers conducted sugar reduction education, and sending out school newsletters was the highest type of nutrition education at 80.6%. Conclusions To effectively promote reduced sugar intake in school meals, it is necessary to change the preference of the subjects for sweetness and to conduct continuous education that can improve the awareness of people for reducing their sugar intake. For this, it is necessary to set aside time for nutrition education and to prepare an institutional framework for providing this education.
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Objectives This study examined ways to promote desirable eating habits by choosing foods with low sugar contents and provide nutrition education in adolescents.
Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey. The sugar reduction perception and knowledge, sugary food preference, and intake frequency of 487 male and female high school students in Incheon were analyzed comparatively.
Results: Approximately 94.9% and 94.5% of the subjects were unaware of the promotion of a sugar reduction policy and the sugar reduction in the basic guidelines for school meals, respectively. Approximately 95% of them had not received any sugar reduction nutrition education, and 90% were not interested in sugar reduction. The perception for sugar reduction was significantly higher in girls (3.43 out of 5 points) than in boys (3.16 out of 5 points) (P < 0.001). Knowledge about sugar was 3.65 out of 6 points in girls and 3.04 points in boys (P < 0.001). The preference and intake frequency for fruits of the total students were 4.24 out of 5 points and 2.56, respectively.
For beverages, the preference was significantly higher in boys (3.97 points) than in girls (3.70 points) (P < 0.001), and the intake frequency was significantly higher in boys (2.26 points) than in girls (2.08 points) (P < 0.001). The preference for snacks was significantly higher for girls (4.19 points) than boys (4.02 points) (P < 0.01), and the intake frequency was 2.22 points in boys and 2.17 in girls, showing no significant difference. Sugar reduction perception and knowledge about sugar showed significant negative correlations with the snack intake frequency (r = -0.11, P < 0.05; -0.13, P < 0.05) after adjusting for gender, grade, and body mass index.
Conclusions: The high school students' perception of sugar reduction was very low, and there was a significant correlation with sugary food intake, suggesting that the sugary food intake will decrease as the sugar reduction perception and knowledge about sugar increase.
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Sugar Intake and Perception of Sugar Reduction among University Students in Gwangju Yeon-Ok Park Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition.2023; 52(11): 1170. CrossRef
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