BACKGROUND: Diet and nutrition are major determinants of public health and are associated with a large number of diseases. Therefore, in order to plan actions to promote global health it is crucial to understand people's food choices.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was the development and validation of a new instrument, a questionnaire to measure psycho-social motivations associated with food choices and eating practices. METHODS:A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 382 adult participants. The questionnaires were applied after informed consent only to adults (aged 18 or over) and the data were collected from January to April 2017 among the Portuguese population. The analysis has been conducted to explore the item-item correlation and the reliability of this new instrument. RESULTS:The results indicated satisfactory correlations between the items of the different variables, except for Variable D (Social and cultural motivations) that did not show strong and significant correlations for almost any items. Considering all the items in each of the variables studied, Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.32 for the marketing and commercial motivations to 0.64 for the economical and availability motivations. When some items were removed from the variables, the values of Cronbach's alpha increased and ranged from 0.66 for social and cultural motivations to 0.78 for health, environmental and political motivations, and for marketing and commercial motivations.CONCLUSION: This work suggested that this questionnaire could be considered a suitable tool for exploring food choice determinants.
The use of edible flowers (EF) in gastronomy is gaining popularity; however, there is still a lack of information about the factors that most contribute to the acceptance of this product. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the habits associated with the usage of EF in gastronomy in three different countries (Portugal, Slovenia, and Brazil) and also to evaluate the major determinants for those habits. In addition, the level of knowledge was also investigated, particularly with regard to the aspects such as perceived risks of toxicity and pesticides. For that, a questionnaire survey of self-response was carried out on a sample of 559 participants, from the above-mentioned countries. To analyse the data, basic descriptive statistical tools were used combined with crosstabs and chi-square tests. Finally, a tree classification was performed using the classification and regression trees algorithm. The results revealed that, regardless of the country, the participants were familiar with the use of EF in gastronomy. The participants had, in general, already consumed EF, and their use was more popular between the Portuguese participants, being the Brazilian those who used them less. Significant differences were found between the countries in the form of consumption of EF and also in the types of EF consumed. There were also significant differences regarding the reasons for eating EF. The classification analysis showed that the country and the level of education were the major determinants for the consuming habits and knowledge about EF. This study highlighted that eating habits are very dependent on the customs and traditions of each country and helped understanding the factors that most affect the participants’ attitudes towards the consumption and knowledge of EF.
22Purpose: A healthy diet has been recognized as one of the most important factors associated with the 23 maintenance of human health as well as to help preventing the development of some chronic 24 diseases. Therefore, this work aimed at studying the perceptions of a sample of university people 25 regarding a healthy diet. Author version2 Methodology: It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 27 382 participants. The data was collected among a sample of Portuguese university people and 28 measured if people´s perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. 29 Findings:The results revealed that the participants' perceptions were, in general, compliant with a 30 healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from -2 to +2). However, were found significant 31 differences between age groups (p=0.004), with a higher average score for young adults, and also 32 between groups with different levels of education (p=0.025), with a higher score for university 33 degree. The variable chronic diseases also showed significant differences (p=0.017), so that people 34 who did not have any chronic diseases obtained a higher score. 35Originality/Value: This study is considered important because it provides evidences about the 36 relation between nutrition knowledge and the perceptions towards a healthy diet. The study allowed 37 concluding that the participants were aware about some nutritional aspects of their diets and, 38 therefore, their perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. This finding is very relevant, because 39 it could be a support for health policy initiatives directed at promoting healthy eating behaviours. 40 41
Purpose This study to investigate several issues related to food choice and consumption patterns in different countries, including health-related factors; economic and availability aspects; emotional determinants; social, cultural and religious influences; marketing and advertising campaigns; and finally environmental concerns. Design/methodology/approach The present study was based on a questionnaire that was exclusively prepared for the project, and which was applied to collect data in different countries, in particular Croatia, Egypt, Italy, Greece and Portugal, which are typically associated with the Mediterranean diet (MD). Findings The results obtained allowed, in general, to conclude that in all five countries the motivations related to health as well as environment and politics were the more relevant to determine people’s eating habits (scores varying from 0.3 to 0.7). Women were more influenced by eating motivations than men, and people with moderate exercise were more susceptible to health and environmental motivations and less to emotional, social or marketing motivations (p < 0.001 in all cases). It was also observed that people who adopted a special diet were more prone to eating motivations and that the emotional motivations were more pronounced in people with eating disorders (p < 0.001). Finally, people without chronic diseases or allergies were even more influenced by health motivations than those who actually suffered from these health problems (p < 0.001 in both cases). Originality/value This work is important because of the multinational coverage, thus allowing to evaluate the most relevant factors that influenced the food choices of the populations around the Mediterranean Sea, sharing the common link to the MD. The study allowed concluding that, in general, the food choices were primarily determined by health factors and also by concerns related to the environment and sustainability as well as by political influences.
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