Younger Adults Are More Likely to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Decrease Sugar Intake with the Application of Dietary Monitoring.

Establishing healthy eating habits is considered to be a sustainable strategy for health maintenance, and mobile applications (apps) are expected to be highly effective among the young-aged population for healthy eating promotion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a dietary monitoring app on younger adults' nutrition knowledge and their dietary habits. A controlled-experimental study was performed with one experimental group having a three-hour nutrition seminar and 12 weeks of dietary monitoring with the app, and one control group receiving a three-hour nutrition seminar. Behavioral feedback delivered by the app was evaluated in facilitating the transfer of nutritional knowledge to nutrition behavior. A total of 305 younger adults aged from 19 to 31 were recruited. Baseline and post-intervention nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior were collected. All mean scores of post-GNKQ-R increased from baseline for both the control and the experimental groups. The mean differences of sugar intake, dietary fiber intake, and vitamin C intake for the experimental group were significantly more than those for the control group (all p < 0.001). In addition, the experimental group increased fruit and vegetable consumption significantly more than the control group (all p < 0.001). For those younger adults with a relatively large body size, they were more likely to increase fruit consumption with the application of dietary monitoring.

Using Physical Food Transformation to Enhance the Sensory Approval of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders for Consuming Fruits and Vegetables.

Introduction: Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) commonly exhibit aberrant tactile, taste, and smell sensitivity to foods. Food transformation that alters the appearance, texture, and temperature of foods is promising for solving this sensitivity problem. Objectives: This study evaluated the effect of physical transformation of fruits and vegetables (FV) to snacks to enhance ASD children's sensory approval for eating them. Design: This was a quasiexperimental design study. It lasted for 4 weeks with three episodes of FV exposure to the ASD children per week. The original condition was conducted in the first and fourth week, while intervention was performed in the second and third week. Settings: Food exposure took place in schools in a quiet room. Subjects: This study recruited 56 ASD children. Intervention: Food transformation constituted changing bananas into ice-cream, zucchinis and sweet potatoes into chips, apples and kiwis into popsicles, and carrots into juice. Outcome Measures: FV acceptance and habitual consumption were measured at baseline and postintervention. Results: ASD children increased their consumption of all FV, but only banana consumption was statistically significant from 55.3 to 78.0 g (p < 0.05). For habitual consumption, parents reported increases in all FV consumption for all three measured fruits and 2 of 3 measures of vegetables (pre vs. post mean for bananas: 2.4 vs. 2.9, apples 2.6 vs. 3.2, kiwis 2.4 vs. 2.9, zucchinis 1.9 vs. 2.5, and sweet potatoes 1.8 vs. 2.4; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Physical changes of foods may improve impaired sensory processing of ASD children to promote their FV acceptance. Project Code: RG 55/2019-2020R.

Chinese adults' nutrition label literacy in Hong Kong: Implications for nurses.

The study aimed to investigate Chinese adults' nutrition label literacy in Hong Kong. It employed a web-based survey with structured questions. A total of 368 Chinese adults aged 18-59 participated in the survey and their nutrition label literacy was measured by the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). About two-thirds (68%) of the participants had limited nutrition literacy skills. Although they were able to identify correctly the calorie and sugar content of food products, 44% and 48% of them had difficulty in determining the consumption of calories and serving food sizes respectively. Another finding from the survey was that those with lower education level and of older age had significantly lower mean nutrition label literacy scores, which indicated that they were at higher risk for food insecurity. The findings showed that the nutrition label literacy level of Hong Kong's general public is quite low. This study can provide insights for nurses and healthcare professionals on how to educate people with lower education level and/or of advanced age to use nutrition labels more effectively and to further nutrition label literacy study and research, particularly in Hong Kong.

Electronic dietary recording system improves nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and habitual physical activity: a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study's objective was to investigate whether use of an electronic dietary recording system improves nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and habitual physical activity levels compared to use of a food diary and no self-monitoring. METHODS: Sixty adults aged 20-60 with a body mass index ≥25 were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group using an electronic system (EG), a group using a food diary (FD) and a control group using nothing (CG) to record food intake. All participants took part in three 60-90 nutrition seminars and completed three questionnaires on general nutrition knowledge, habitual physical activity levels and eating attitudes at the beginning and end of the 12-week study. The pre- and post-test scores for each questionnaire were analysed using a paired sample t-test. RESULTS: Significant improvements in the domain of 'dietary recommendations' were found in the EG (p=0.009) and FD groups (p=0.046). Great improvements were found in 'sources of nutrients', 'choosing everyday foods' and 'diet-disease relationships' in EG and FD groups. EG group showed greater improvement in the work index and sport index. CONCLUSION: An electronic dietary recording system may improve eating and exercise behaviour in a self-monitoring process.

Teledietetics improves weight reduction by modifying eating behavior: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Weight reduction without behavioral modification is not sustainable. However, with a technology application such as teledietetics, the recording process could be a cognitive cue for individuals to change their eating behavior. This study tested obese participants to determine whether teledietetics shows better results in weight reduction. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a double-blinded randomized controlled trial. The participants in the food diary (FD) and electronic diary (ED) groups recorded their dietary intakes in logbooks and on an electronic diary system, respectively. The participants in the control group (CG) did nothing. Subjects were adults 20-60 years of age with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥25 kg/m(2). The ED and FD groups were the intervention groups and were compared with the CG group. The participants' body weights, BMIs, fat percentages, waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs), and mean arterial pressures (MAPs) were measured before the study, at Week 6, and at Week 12. Demographic data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. A chi-squared test and descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic and biomeasurement data. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the three groups over time. RESULTS: Significant decreases in body weight (F1.705,86.950=20.508, p<0.001) and BMI (F1.657, 84.486=21.256, p<0.001) and insignificant decreases in fat percentage (F2,94=0.547, p=0.581), WHR (F1.785,91.052=2.888, p=0.067), and MAP (F2,94=7.542, p=0.0001) were observed among the three measurement times. CONCLUSIONS: Electronic dietary records were better than food diaries in terms of fat percentage reduction in our trials, indicating that teledietetics increases healthy-eating awareness.