The level of knowledge on nutrition and its relation to health among Polish young men.

BACKGROUND: Men are less than women interested in nutrition and health. Also low is their nutritional knowledge. More than 25% of men are unwilling to increase their knowledge about food and nutrition. The main sources of men's knowledge about lifestyle including nutrition consist of Internet, colleagues and family. The low level of knowledge about nutrition and health among men is worrying especially in the context of their incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular disease, higher than in women. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the level of knowledge on nutrition and health among young men. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 107 men aged 19-34 years from different places and backgrounds in Poland. Men were selected by the snowball method. The study was conducted using an authors' validated questionnaire containing six types of closed questions (85 detailed questions in total). For statistical analysis Chi(2) test was used (p≤0.05). RESULTS: Almost 42% of men under the study were overweight or obese, and less than » declared high physical activity, most showed (on a 4-point scale) sufficient (45%) or low level (40%) of knowledge of nutrition and health. Younger respondents had higher knowledge than older ones. Very low was the respondent's awareness of an energy content of products, sources of high quality protein and amount of recommended vegetable and fruit consumption. The well-known were the reasons for civilisation diseases and the effect of dietary fibre. The internet was the main source of nutritional knowledge and health related information followed by: colleagues and family. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of men presented sufficient or low knowledge about food, nutrition and their relation to health. Young men should be encouraged to participate in various forms of nutritional and health education. This would increase the chance to avoid civilisation diseases.

[Level of knowledge on food and nutrition among groups of pupils of the last class of secondary schools]. / Stan wiedzy o zywnosci i zywieniu w grupie uczniów ostatnich klas szkól ponadgimnazjalnych.

BACKGROUND: Common nutritional faults affect health of many Poles. Health state of Poles is worse than most of Europeans and is not improving. Nutritional behaviors of young people are caused by limited nutritional knowledge learned during consecutive stages of school education. Nutritional education is considered less important, theoretical knowledge and practice is not correlated and teacher's knowledge is limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to study different school programs and to assess the level of nutritional knowledge among selected pupils of last classes of secondary school in Warsaw. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in November 2008 on 210 students with the specific author's questionnaire. RESULTS: There is wide nutritional educational program in schools starting from kindergarten through schools of different levels. The nutritional education program is not consistent likely due to dispersion of material among different subjects. In nutritional knowledge tests none of the pupil reached 75% of maximum points and half of them did not reach 50%. Pupils did not know what is their energetic requirement (answers differ from 100 kcal/day to 10000 kcal/day). They were unable to determine the caloric of oil (only 1/3 knows that it is the most caloric product). More than half of pupils answered that sugar is the most caloric product. The knowledge of vitamin and minerals content is completely not known to pupils. Most of pupils were unable to correctly indicate two products which are the sources of vitamin C (approximately 60%), vitamin A (almost 75%) and iron (over 60%). Pupils have more information on protein sources. Surprisingly it was easier for them to indicate products which are not a good source of valuable proteins than the good source of proteins. Pupils did not know what is recommended frequency of milk, fish, vegetables and plant oil consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the core curriculum of education is proper but students had little knowledge of nutrition. The majority of respondents (95%) did not received half of the available points, and nobody scored very good result. It has been found that there is insufficient knowledge of products energy values and energy daily requirements for teenagers, sources of nutrients, as well as basic nutritional guidelines.

Are Nutrition-Related Knowledge and Attitudes Reflected in Lifestyle and Health Among Elderly People? A Study Across Five European Countries.

Background: Nutrition-related knowledge (NRK) and nutrition-related attitudes (NRAs) are necessary for dietary changes toward healthier dietary patterns. In turn, healthier dietary patterns can be beneficial in maintaining health of older adults. Therefore, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether NRK and NRAs were associated with lifestyle and health features among older adults (65+ years) from five European countries (France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and United Kingdom). Methods: Within the European project NU-AGE, 1,144 healthy elderly volunteers (65-79 years) were randomly assigned to two groups: intervention (NU-AGE diet) or control. After 1-year of follow-up, both NRK and NRAs were assessed during exit interviews, in combination with a number of lifestyle and health variables (e.g., physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, BMI, self-assessed health status). Multivariable linear regression models were used in data analysis. Results: In the NU-AGE study sample, good NRK was associated with lower BMI and higher physical activity. More positive NRAs were related to lower BMI and self-reported very good or good appetite. Moreover, both NRK and NRAs were associated with some socio-economic determinants, like financial situation, age, education, living area (for NRK), and country (for NRAs). Participants in the intervention group showed a better NRK (ß = 0.367 [95% CI: 0.117; 0.617], p = 0.004) and more positive NRAs (ß = 0.838 [95% CI: 0.318; 1.358], p = 0.002) than those in the control group. Higher self-evaluated knowledge was also significantly related to more positive NRAs (p < 0.001). The most popular sources of nutrition information were food labels, books and magazines on health, the dietitian and the doctor's office, although their importance varied significantly among countries, and, to a lesser extent, between women and men and between intervention and control group. Conclusion: Higher NRK and NRA scores were associated with lower BMI and higher physical activity level. Therefore, a good nutrition-related knowledge and positive nutrition-related attitudes can strongly and positively influence the health status and quality of life among the older population. These results offer a great opportunity for policy makers to implement educational programs in order to counteract the epidemic of obesity and to improve the health span of European population.

Pro-health nutritional behaviors of selected group of students of the Medical University of Warsaw.

The aim of the study was the analysis of pro-health nutritional behaviors among 100 female students Medical University of Warsaw tested by the questionnaire method. The results of the study show that nutritional behaviors of students who learned human nutrition were significantly better in accordance with dietary guidelines. The most frequent consumed group of products were fruits and dairy products. Consumption of vegetables, number and regularity of meals had been better among dietetics students then among midwifery and nursing students.

The nutritional habits among centenarians living in Warsaw.

The aim of the study was to determine the preferences and nutritional habits of Warsaw centenarians during their "third period" of life. The study was conducted by a questionnaire method among 29 centenarians. Most of centenarians had general good health condition. Almost 60% of centenarians performed manual labor in the past. Then they drank small amounts of alcohol irregularly. Several percent of centenarians smoked in the past. Before the age of sixty less people then at present snacked between meals. Sweets both now and in the past were preferred products, however, in the past sweets were rarely eaten by centenarians. At the present time centenarians ate more often yogurt, skim curd, fish, lean meat products, plant oils and sweets. The changes in eating habits were probably caused by civilization changes.

[Some elements of life style, including cigarette smoking, among adolescents]. / Niektóre elementy stylu zycia, w tym palenie papierosów, w wybranej grupie mlodziezy.

The aim of the study was to determine some of elements of life style among 336 pupils attending randomly chosen high school (in 4 provinces) were studied by the questionnaire. 12.5% of adolescents were smoking cigarettes. Physical activity of half of respondents was ranked as average, 1/3 was underweight, 3.9% was over weight--(obesity--0.9%). Most of adolescents ate 3 meals a day, 92% were snacking. The main nutritional faults were small frequency of consumption of milk and milk products, vegetables and fruits, fish and vegetable oils.