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The impact of nutrition education on the understanding of the 1995 dietary guidelines and change in health beliefs in adolescents
Abstract
Data were collected on nutrition knowledge and health behaviors of 14 to 18-year old Texas adolescents. Adolescent participants completed the following before and after nutrition education: a nutrition knowledge test and a questionnaire on health beliefs. Subjects at the experimental school were provided with one semester of nutrition education based on the 1995 Dietary Guidelines and the 1996 Food Guide Pyramid. Pearson's product moment correlation coefficients identified possible relationships between selected variables. Variables pertaining to the nutrition education factors and an understanding of the Dietary Guidelines that had significant correlation with variables pertaining to changes in diet behavior (including factors identified through principle components analysis) were used as variables in linear regression analyses. Knowledge of the base of the Food Guide Pyramid and significant sources of iron, minerals and sweeteners was increased with nutrition education, as was knowledge of food fortification, obesity and exercise, sodium, fat and cholesterol, and alcohol. The subjects' responses to the health beliefs indicated that nutrition education impacted beliefs about changing the diet and maintaining weight to reduce the risk of chronic disease. The subjects responded that they wanted to change their health beliefs about variety in the diet, moderating salt consumption, and exercising on a regular basis increasing the chances of being healthy after nutrition education had been provided. Adolescents exposed to nutrition education stated an increased desire to eat a diet with a greater variety with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grain products. No differences were seen by gender or age. More research is needed examining the effectiveness of nutrition education on knowledge of the Dietary Guidelines and the Food Guide Pyramid, as well as its impact on health beliefs in adolescents. Future research should focus on younger subjects so that there is long term reinforcement. Subjects need to be exposed to the effects of nutrition education on chronic disease prevention.
Description
Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-76).
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Citation
Gandhi, Rejal R (1999). The impact of nutrition education on the understanding of the 1995 dietary guidelines and change in health beliefs in adolescents. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1999 -THESIS -G361.
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