Barriers and Facilitators to Intake of Dairy Products in Adolescent Males and Females With Different Levels of Habitual Intake

Abstract

Background: Dairy products and alternatives can contribute to overall good health including positive body composition and decreased adiposity; however, these foods are grossly underconsumed by youth, and worldwide, almost 25% of children are overweight or obese. Objective: The study investigated the barriers and facilitators toward dairy consumption by Grade 7 youth. Methods: Thirty 50-minute, audio-recorded focus groups were conducted with 134 students in eight Grade 7 classes across 5 elementary schools. Focus groups were led by trained facilitators in the elementary schools and participants were separated based on dairy consumption and gender. Recorded data were transcribed and thematically analyzed using qualitative analysis software to identify themes related to barriers and facilitators to dairy product intake by each gender. Results: Factors considered important by males and females across different levels of habitual intake include personal knowledge about dairy products and misconceptions regarding dairy foods and their associated health benefits; food characteristics, including taste; personal behaviors such as habits or routines including dairy products; social environments including parental and peer influence; physical environments factors such as availability and skipping meals; and the convenience of dairy products. Interestingly, only males noted sports as a positive influence for dairy product intake. Also, there were differences in the way males and females perceived dining out as affecting their dairy intake. Conclusion: Results suggest several potential factors that nutrition education interventions aiming to increase dairy consumption could target.

The barriers and enablers to achieving adequate calcium intake in young adults: a qualitative study using focus groups

“…Our findings are generally in agreement with a similar study reporting barriers and facilitators from adolescents that included personal knowledge gap, misconceptions related to benefits, taste, parental and peer influence, and the availability and convenience of dairy products (36) . Although previous studies report a gap in young adults' knowledge of high calcium foods (14,37) , a majority of the participants were able to identify the importance of calcium for bone health, which is consistent with a Canadian study (20) and an older study in young women (38) .…”

Differential relationship between physical activity and intake of added sugar and nutrient-dense foods: A cross-sectional analysis

“…It is noteworthy that an increase in dairy intake with increasing PA was only observed in men but not in women. While there is only limited comparable literature available, this finding is in agreement with previous data suggesting that sports and exercise participation had a positive influence on dairy consumption in male but not in female adolescent (45). Considering that men are more likely to engage in muscle building activities, whereas women tend to conduct more aerobic exercise with an emphasis on weight management (46), and that dairy consumption is often implicated in strength and muscle building activities (47), this sex discrepancy does not seem surprising.…”

Exploring Rural Adolescents’ Dietary Diversity and Its Socioeconomic Correlates: A Cross-Sectional Study from Matlab, Bangladesh

“…Despite more than 70% of the households owning livestock, cow and goat milk producing being common in Matlab, consumption of milk products was low. While some observational studies link higher dairy consumption to health benefits like lower adiposity and higher cardiorespiratory fitness [48], qualitative exploration suggests that misconceptions regarding health benefits of dairy, dislike of the taste of milk, and peer norms may reduce adolescents' dairy intake [49].…”