Evaluation of the reliability and educational quality of YouTube™ videos on sport nutrition topics.

BACKGROUND: YouTube is one of the most widespread social media channels, which is of growing importance in science communication and health education. The validity of medical and health-related information available on YouTube cannot be assured, and videos often contain potentially misleading or inaccurate information. Communication on sport nutrition may have a profound effect on the change in nutrition behavior among athletes, so evidence-based nutrition information must reach athletes. The main goal of the research is to evaluate the quality, reliability, and applicability of sports nutrition YouTube videos as educational material for athletes. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was applied, and a systematic search was performed on YouTube. The quality and reliability of the videos were evaluated by applying the most frequently used and highly reliable scoring systems in the literature (e.g., DISCERN, Global Quality Score, and JAMA criteria) and a sports nutrition-specific scoring system (SNSS). Descriptive statistical analyses, two-sample t-test, Spearman correlation, Kruskal - Wallis, and Mann - Whitney U test were used to evaluate the results. A total of 114 YouTube videos met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: In 25% of the videos, the sports nutrition information was presented by a dietitian, while in two-thirds, coaches and athletes and other professionals shared sports nutrition knowledge. In terms of video content, the three most common topics were nutrition and health (33%), special diets (21%), and the training diet (17%). For the majority of the videos that received low GQS, JAMAS, DISCERN, and SNSS scores, the accuracy and quality of the analyzed YouTube videos on sports nutrition were inadequate. Videos uploaded by dietitians achieved significantly higher DISCERN, JAMAS, GQS, and SNSS scores. The GQS, SNSS, and DISCERN scores of videos from sports organizations, nonprofit organizations, and independent user sources were lower compared to videos uploaded by academic and professional organizations. Popular sport nutrition videos among users that contain personal stories or the experiences of athletes were deemed less reliable by experts or showed lower educational quality. Henceforth, we found a negative correlation between video popularity and JAMAS, GQS, and SNSS scores. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that sports nutrition videos on the YouTube video platform show low accuracy and reliability. Professionals working with athletes need to consider misconceptions from sports nutrition videos in their nutrition counseling practice. Due to the popularity of the videos, professionals and professional organizations could use YouTube as an online educational tool to increase the nutrition knowledge of athletes.

I Believe It Is Healthy-Impact of Extrinsic Product Attributes in Demonstrating Healthiness of Functional Food Products.

Due to the high proportion of impulse purchases and the short time devoted to purchase decisions, packaging and other extrinsic attributes are becoming increasingly important in demonstrating the health benefits of a functional food item to consumers as plausibly as possible. Our research aims at identifying the role of extrinsic features (claims related to ingredients and health claims, organic or domestic origin, as well as the shape and color of packaging), gathered in the course of in-depth literature analysis, in the case of a functional smoothie. Our online consumer questionnaire was completed by 633 respondents, and the answers were assessed by choice based conjoint analysis. Our results show that each examined attribute plays a role in the assessment of health effects. The color blue has the biggest impact on making the consumer believe in the health benefits of the product. This is followed by the indication of organic origin, then the statement emphasizing the natural quality of the ingredients. The assessment of the specific extrinsic attributes is affected by consumers' general health interest level, their involvement with food items, and their various demographic features.

Perceived Risk of Fish Consumption in a Low Fish Consumption Country.

Among the numerous health benefits of fish consumption, perhaps the most recognized is the role of omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is prevalent in Hungary, which has the lowest fish consumption in Europe. Increasing fish consumption is the aim of most European countries and given the high incidence of cardiovascular disease in Hungary, it is of particular importance. A significant reduction of the VAT for fish in 1 January 2018 aimed to increase fish consumption in Hungary. However, despite reduced VAT, the price of fish in Hungary rose from 2017 to 2018. The aim of our research is to explore perceived risks that serve to exacerbate Hungarian consumers' low fish consumption, and to measure their effects to identify potential strategies to most effectively increase fish consumption. We applied partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze responses provided by 1042 survey participants (collected with face-to-face interviews, using quota sampling in 2014) to explore variables of fish consumption associated with perceived risk including psychological, physical, social, and functional risks. Our model is the first one that applies detailed perceived risk categories to measure those effects on low fish consumption. The results indicate that psychological risk associated with negative past experiences have both a direct, and through functional risk, an indirect significant negative effect on fish consumption. Conversely, neither social nor physical risk impede Hungarian fish consumption. We conclude that the seafood industry could benefit from targeted interventions that seek to reduce functional risk-perception of the person responsible for preparing fish in the household.

Factors that Influence the Perceived Healthiness of Food-Review.

The interest of consumers is the consumption of healthy food, whereas the interest of food manufacturers is that consumers recognize the produced "healthier" food items on the shelves, so they can satisfy their demands. This way, identifying the factors that influence the perceived healthiness of food products is a mutual interest. What causes consumers to consider one product more beneficial to health than another? In recent years, numerous studies have been published on the topic of the influence of several health-related factors on consumer perception. This analysis collected and categorized the research results related to this question. This review collects 59 articles with the help of the search engines Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, MDPI and Emerald Insight between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2019. Our paper yielded six separate categories that influence consumers in their perception of the healthiness of food items: the communicated information-like FoP labels and health claims, the product category, the shape and colour of the product packaging, the ingredients of the product, the organic origin of the product, and the taste and other sensory features of the product.

The credibility of the effects of functional food products and consumers' willingness to purchase/willingness to pay- review.

The credibility aspect of any food product is important in order to find and keep consumers, which is especially true for functional foods. Market success of these products depends mostly on the credibility of their beneficial effects on health. The aim of this literature review was to identify aspects that make the positive health effect of a functional product credible for consumers. Based on the established connection between purchase intention and credibility, articles have been collected, summarized and restructured. Research papers have been analyzed through a two-step selection process. From 1724 studies, 54 were selected to discuss the above mentioned topics. It has been found that most of the studies focus on the credibility of health claims, while those exploring the connection between different kinds of product attributes and the credibility aspect of functional food products are rare. It is believed that other features can significantly affect this aspect and it is strategically important to know these factors influencing credibility. The literature analysis showed that willingness to purchase functional products is influenced by sensory and non-sensory-characteristics of the product, while willingness to pay is affected for example by consumers' trust in functional foods. On the issue of what influences the credibility of the health benefits of functional products, ambiguous information was found. While one of the most important factors influencing acceptance of functional foods is credibility of information, other researchers' results show no direct significant relationship between credibility of health claims and willingness to purchase. Credibility of health effect is also influenced by the base product and the carrier ingredient, the source of information, the product design and cultural roots of a country.

Consumer Evaluation of the Role of Functional Food Products in Disease Prevention and the Characteristics of Target Groups.

Our research explores the methods consumers would consider using in order to prevent non-communicable diseases, with consuming functional food products being one of these methods. Previous research has pointed out the importance of missing information such as which diseases worry consumers and what they would use to avoid them. We conducted a personal survey with 1027 people in Hungary about 13 diseases and four prevention methods. We analyzed the results with descriptive statistical methods, binary logistic regression, and random forest. According to our results, the highest proportion of worried respondents think it is justified to consume functional foods for the prevention of digestive problems, a weakened immune system, and high cholesterol level. Our results help to characterize the target group for these three diseases. Completed education plays a key role in choosing functional foods to prevent a weakened immune system. Those with tertiary education are the most likely to choose this prevention method. With the other two diseases, age played a crucial role. All age groups over 36 would be more likely to choose functional foods to prevent digestive problems, whereas in case of high cholesterol level, the 36-50 age group would be more likely to apply this method.