Effectiveness of nutrition counseling in young adult males

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to determine if the addition of a laboratory measurement, i.e., measurement of serum cholesterol, would increase the effectiveness of nutrition counseling in young men. Subjects were a random sample of 45 healthy male students from a Midwestern university, between the ages of 20 and 25 who were consuming >30% of kcal from fat. Men were randomly assigned to one of four groups; nutrition counseling and measurement of serum cholesterol (NC + SC), nutrition counseling only (NC), measurement of serum cholesterol only (SC), or control (C). At weeks 1 and 6, participants completed a 24-hour recall, a 2-day food record, and a food frequency questionnaire. Analysis of variance and least squares means were used to compare change in dietary intake (percent calories from fat) from pre-to post-assessment. Fat intake decreased by 3.2% kcal from fat in the NC + SC group (P < 0.02), and by 2.7% kcal from fat in the NC group (P < 0.06). There were no significant changes in the SC or C groups. These results suggest that measurement of serum cholesterol may enhance the effectiveness of nutrition counseling in young adult males somewhat, however, the primary impact on reducing fat intake is from the nutrition counseling alone.

What works with men? A systematic review of health promoting interventions targeting men

“…Two studies, aimed at improving diet and physical activity were identified [ 22 , 23 ] both showing the interventions to be partially effective. One RCT was small (n = 45) and compared a combination of nutrition counselling (NC) and serum cholesterol measurement (SC) interventions with no intervention.…”

“…One RCT was small (n = 45) and compared a combination of nutrition counselling (NC) and serum cholesterol measurement (SC) interventions with no intervention. The NC+SC group showed significant reductions in fat intake over a six-week period (3.2%) based on self-reported food intake over 24 hour periods [ 22 ]. Cook et al .…”

“…One study in this review assessed whether the addition of cholesterol measurement would increase the effectiveness of nutrition counselling in male university students [ 22 ]. Results indicated that the effectiveness of nutrition counselling was slightly increased when combined with cholesterol measurements, although measurement of cholesterol alone was not shown to be effective.…”

A systematic review of SNAPO (Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical activity and Obesity) randomized controlled trials in young adult men

“…Table 2 summarizes selected characteristics of all eligible studies by SNAPO risk factors. Of the 10 included studies, two focused on nutrition (Uglem et al, 2013;Williams and Lewis, 2002), six alcohol (Caudill et al, 2007;Daeppen et al, 2011;Fried and Dunn, 2012;Gaume et al, 2011;Murphy et al, 1986;Rohsenow et al, 1985), and two targeted multiple SNAPO risk factors (Cambien et al, 1981;Gmel et al, 2013); of these, one targeted smoking plus alcohol use (Gmel et al, 2013) and…”

“…Two nutrition interventions were identified (Uglem et al, 2013;Williams and Lewis, 2002). The first was a four-arm RCT investigating the effectiveness of nutrition counselling (one session per week over four weeks) with the addition of a serum cholesterol measurement against nutrition counselling alone, serum cholesterol measurement alone and a no-treatment control group (Williams and Lewis, 2002).…”