Learning Outcome: Describe the relationship between nutrition professionals' knowledge, consumption and recommendations of whole grains.
Research outcome:To determine the relationship between nutrition professionals' knowledge, consumption, and recommendations of whole grains.
Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted with nutrition professionals (n¼480).Participants were recruited via email and social media from October 2020-February 2021. The participants completed a validated 21-question survey about whole grain knowledge, consumption, and recommendations.
Analysis:The analyses included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation tests.Results: Survey respondents included 72.5% Registered Dietitians Nutritionists (RD/RDN) and 27.5% RD in training (e.g. dietetic intern, student). Nutrition professionals felt whole grains were important in their own diet (93%) and their patient/clients' diet (75%). A slight majority of nutrition professionals (58%) strongly or somewhat agreed that "personal grain preference influences the grains that you recommend to patients/clients", despite 67% agreeing to the statement, "client income/background influences the types of grains you recommend to patients/clients." Nutrition professionals correctly classified 14.9AE3.2 of the 23 food classification questions and 9.6AE1.8 for the 11 whole grain knowledge statements. Nutrition professionals with direct patient care (n¼373) have personally consumed 15.9AE3.74 different grains and recommended 9AE4.15, the correlation being r¼0.29, indicating a significant positive correlation.
The purpose of this study was to investigate nutrition students' and professionals' knowledge, perceptions, and experiences with whole grains and the differences between the levels of nutrition experts. Participants completed an 18-question online survey from December 2020 to February 2021. Convenience, snowballing, and purposive recruitment strategies were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression, and correlation analysis. Participants (n = 472) included 2 groups: registered dietitians/registered dietitian nutritionists (n = 348) and dietetic intern and nutrition students (NUTRs) (n = 124). Both registered dietitian nutritionists and NUTRs were able to correctly identify whole-grain foods and had had high whole-grain knowledge. Registered dietitian nutritionists had a significantly positive relationship between categorizing whole grains and whole-grain health impacts, which was not seen for NUTRs. Registered dietitian nutritionists personally consumed an average of 13 different grains, whereas NUTRs consumed 11 grains (P < .001). More than 60% of all participants reported never consumed 7 unique grains (triticale, KAMUT, teff, spelt, sorghum, amaranth, and millet). Nutrition students and professionals are knowledgeable on whole-grain choices and their benefits yet are less experienced in their consumption of those grains. In order to inform and promote to the public whole-grain foods, nutrition students and professionals need to continue to boost their familiarity with diverse whole grains.
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