Factors affecting nutrition literacy: a pilot study among Turkish adults

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was examined the effects of sociodemographic characteristics and health status of adults on nutritional literacy. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among adults (aged >20 years) in Ankara, Turkey between April to June 2022. The first part of the survey consisted ofquestions aimed at determining the socidemographic characteristics and health status of the individuals. In the second part, the Nutrition Literacy Instrument adopted in Turkish was utilized to assess the nutrition literacy status of the participants. Based on this scale, a score above 38 was classified as “adequate”, a score between 29 and 38 as “borderline” and a score below 29 as “inadequate”. Results In this study 676 individuals was participated, among whom 50.6% (n=342) were women and 49.4% (n=334) were men. The average total nutritional literacy score of the individuals was 33.06±3.49. It was found 9.3% of Individuals had inadequate nutrition literacy, 87.4% had borderline nutrition literacy, and 3.3% had adequate nutrition literacy. Nutrition literacy levels were found to be statistically significant between genders, with women exhibiting greater levels of nutrition literacy than men (p<0.05). Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between education levels and nutritional literacy (p<0.05). Specifically, individuals who graduated from high school and university demonstrated higher levels of nutritional literacy compared to those who graduated from primary and secondary school. Conclusion It has been determined that gender and education among socio-demographic characteristics have a significant effect on nutritional literacy.