Measuring and Leveraging Motives and Values in Dietary Interventions

Abstract

Why measure and leverage food motives and values? Every failure and every success in dietary change can be connected to motivation. Therefore, this research question naturally arises: How can food motives and values be measured and leveraged to improve diet outcomes from the individual to populations? There are four ways that food motives and values (FMVs) can assist researchers and health professionals. First, FMVs can help to create a personalized approach to dietary change. Second, FMVs can inform content for dietary interventions. Third, these FMV measures can be used in data analysis to elucidate differences in adherence and outcomes among participants. Fourth, public health nutrition messages can be tailored using information on FMVs. Each of these uses has the potential to further the literature and inform future efforts to improve diet. A central aim of our study is to provide specific examples and recommendations on how to measure and leverage FMVs. To do so, we reviewed 12 measures included in the literature citing the Food Choice Questionnaire by Steptoe, Pollard, and Wardle, which was identified as the earliest, highly cited article appearing under the search terms “food motives” AND “food values” AND “eating behavior” AND “measure”. Specific details on how articles were selected from the citing literature are described in the Methods section. We also expound on our reasoning for including the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, which made for 13 measures in total. Our main finding is that each measure has strengths and shortcomings to consider in using FMVs to inform nutritional recommendations at different levels.

Findings from Diet Comparison Difficult to Interpret in the Absence of Adherence Assessment. Comment on Tricò et al. Effects of Low-Carbohydrate versus Mediterranean Diets on Weight Loss, Glucose Metabolism, Insulin Kinetics and β-Cell Function in Morbidly Obese Individuals. Nutrients 2021, 13, 1345

“…We feel it's a missed opportunity for Tricò et al to not report on the satisfaction participants have with study diets or on other potentially relevant individual-level factors (e.g., cost, familiarity). The practical implications for motivating food factors and values within interventions has been recently examined by Eustis and colleagues [7]. In our own trials, we have found varying psychosocial, demographic, and environmental motivational factors regarding adherence to study diets [6,8,9].…”

Who We Seek and What We Eat? Sources of Food Choice Inspirations and Their Associations with Adult Dietary Patterns before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown in New Zealand

“…These inspiration sources and motives can inform content for dietary interventions. Best-practice public health nutrition education, intervention, and recommendations can benefit from work on food-and cooking-related inspirations, influences and recipe selection motives with individuals, groups, communities, and populations [73]. The motives for food choice may also be a source of population level nutritional disparities both with lockdown and without lockdown.…”

“…Previous research has shown that due to the complexity of human food choices, the recommendation process can be manipulated through sophisticated nudging techniques such that a particular, 'healthier' recipe will be chosen more often than would be expected by chance alone [51]. Findings can be used to study the clustering of unhealthy dietary patterns and factors affecting diet-related disease, disease-disease interactions, and social condition interactions [73].…”

Eating Choices—The Roles of Motivation and Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Motivations are probably one of the most frequently researched determinants among psychological factors. There are several instruments measuring eating motivations and related concepts [ 24 ], including the Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS) [ 25 ], the Eating Motivation Scale (EATMOT) [ 26 ], the Food Choice Motives Questionnaire [ 27 ], the Food Choice Questionnaire [ 28 ], and the Measure of Food Choice Values [ 29 ]. Some of the tools are focused on the specific context, e.g., ethical motivations (Measurement of Ethical Food Motives) [ 30 ], psychological motivations to eat or to abstain, including coping, social compliance, and pleasure motivations (The Motivations to Eat Measure) [ 31 ], hedonic eating behaviors (Palatable Eating Motives Scale) [ 32 ], orientation towards health and hedonic characteristics food on the market (Health and Taste Attitudes Scales) [ 33 ].…”

“…EATMOT has been proposed as a tool that can be used for various objectives in diversified populations and geographical locations [ 24 ]. As it seems, multiple subpopulations and communities may differ significantly regarding the motivations playing a key role in food selection.…”