[Relations between attitude and practice of smoking and the training program regarding tobacco control among community medical staff members in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relations between training and both the attitude and practice on smoking control among community medical staff members in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. METHODS: Three representative districts including Xiacheng, Gongshu and Westlake were chosen from Hangzhou city. Questionnaire survey was applied to collect information from the related community medical staff members. The survey mainly contained three aspects: knowledge, attitude and practice regarding smoking control involved in the community medical activities. Availability and application of the resources on smoking cessation were also studied. Logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the factors associated with the smoking control training programs. Differences of rates between groups were assessed with chi-square statistics. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to study the relationships among knowledge, attitude and practice related to smoking control programs, targeted to the community medical staff members. RESULTS: Eight hundred forty-six community medical workers were involved. Sixty-five percent of the community medical staff members had learned related knowledge on smoking control. Proportion of the community medical staff who had taken lessons on smoking control with 3-10 working years was 1.77 times more than the ones with experience less than two years (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.25-2.51). Eighty-eight point seven percent of the medical staff who had received smoking control training programs were identified with the consciousness that they should advise the patients to quit smoking, comparing to the proportion 81.60% (Z=-2.87, P=0.00) in the control group. In terms of the practice regarding smoking control, data showed that 21.62% of the medical staff who had received smoking control training programs would provide 'how to quit smoking' to more than 90% of the smoking patients, while the proportion in the control group was 10.65% (Z = -5.68, P = 0.00). The use of drugs, traditional Chinese medicine therapy and the smoking cessation hotline rate were all less than 30%. CONCLUSION: The training programs being used on smoking control seemed useful in improving the consciousness and practice towards the smoking control programs during their medical activities among the community medical staff members.

The changes of nutrition labeling of packaged food in Hangzhou in China during 2008-2010.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the changes of the nutrition labeling of packaged food in China two years after the promulgation of the Regulation for Food Nutrition Labeling, which encourages food manufacturers to identify nutrition labeling. METHODS: Investigators copied out the nutrition information panel, nutrition claim and nutrient function claim of packaged food in a supermarket with prepared questionnaire and finished normative judgment in 2008 and 2010. RESULTS: 4693 and 5526 kinds of packaged food were investigated separately. Nutrition information panel, nutrition claim and nutrient function claim were found on the food label of 27.6%, 13.0% and 1.9% of packaged food respectively in 2008, while 35.1%, 7.7% and 2.3% in 2010. The nutrition information panel which labeled energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium was 597 (43.8%) and 1661 (85.9%) in 2008 and 2010, only 134 (9.8%) and 985 (51.0%) nutrition information panel were totally normalized. Nutrition claim and nutrient function claim focused on vitamin, mineral and dietary fiber. The total qualified proportions for nutrition claim were increased significantly for most of the nutrients, except for cholesterol. There were 6 (6.4%) and 5 (3.9%) nutrient function claims with hinting of therapeutic effects on diseases separately. CONCLUSION: Although the voluntary regulation remarkably improved the level of normalization for nutrition labeling, its role on the prevalence was minus. It's imperative to enforce nutrition labeling for not only China but also other countries, and furthermore, health education on nutrition labeling should be initiated to support the policy.

[Study on knowledge, attitudes and use of the pre-packaged food nutrition labeling in Hangzhou supermarket consumers in 2010].

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence rates of knowledge, attitudes and use of the nutrition labeling and related influential factors in Hangzhou supermarket consumers. METHODS: Using a self-developed survey questionnaire, randomly selected customers were conducted a face-to-face interview program in a large supermarket of Hangzhou city. RESULTS: 586 people were interviewed, including 202 males and 384 females, with the mean age as 41.6 ± 17.23 years. The accuracy rates of 6 questions related to the 'ability of choosing healthier food by using the Nutrition Facts Labels' were as follows: dietary fiber (71.84%), fat (70.99%), calcium (60.75%), salt (58.36%), energy (50.85%) and sugar (39.42%). The support rates of the three attitudes indicators were "support marking the Nutrition Facts Label" (90.44%), "support marking the nutrition claims" (87.03%) and "want to know more relative knowledge" (77.13%). There were 58.36% and 80.03% first-time buyers who would read the Nutrition Facts Food Labels and the Nutrition Claims. Through logistic model analysis, male, youth, low-educated people were found to be the risk factors related to the nutrition label reading behavior. CONCLUSION: The capacity of the reading, understanding and correct application of nutrition labeling among consumers was not satisfactory. Improvement on the readability and the authority of nutrition labeling and the development of the national nutrition knowledge and health education programs were in urgent needs.