Perceptions towards a healthy diet among a sample of university people in Portugal

Abstract

22Purpose: A healthy diet has been recognized as one of the most important factors associated with the 23 maintenance of human health as well as to help preventing the development of some chronic 24 diseases. Therefore, this work aimed at studying the perceptions of a sample of university people 25 regarding a healthy diet. Author version2 Methodology: It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 27 382 participants. The data was collected among a sample of Portuguese university people and 28 measured if people´s perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. 29 Findings:The results revealed that the participants' perceptions were, in general, compliant with a 30 healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from -2 to +2). However, were found significant 31 differences between age groups (p=0.004), with a higher average score for young adults, and also 32 between groups with different levels of education (p=0.025), with a higher score for university 33 degree. The variable chronic diseases also showed significant differences (p=0.017), so that people 34 who did not have any chronic diseases obtained a higher score. 35Originality/Value: This study is considered important because it provides evidences about the 36 relation between nutrition knowledge and the perceptions towards a healthy diet. The study allowed 37 concluding that the participants were aware about some nutritional aspects of their diets and, 38 therefore, their perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. This finding is very relevant, because 39 it could be a support for health policy initiatives directed at promoting healthy eating behaviours. 40 41

Perceptions about Healthy Eating and Emotional Factors Conditioning Eating Behaviour: A Study Involving Portugal, Brazil and Argentina

“…Significant differences were found by country and level of education, with adult citizens residing in Portugal and those with higher education showing a more correct perception of what healthy eating should be. These results are in line with those of the study by Ferrão et al [ 30 ]. They are also consistent with the results of Lê et al [ 34 ] who showed an association between a high educational level and adherence to a healthy diet.…”

“…The questionnaire used in this study was first validated for the Portuguese population [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] and then applied in other countries, after translation and adaptation. The questionnaire was applied in Brazil in Portuguese and translated into Spanish, following a back-translation methodology for validation.…”

Food choice motivations and perception of a healthy diet in a developing Mediterranean country

“…Various studies have focused on the relation between nutrition knowledge and people's dietary patterns, and some of them highlighted that there might be a positive correlation between higher nutrition knowledge and the adoption of healthier diets. Nevertheless, other works were not so decisive about this association (Rustad and Smith 2013;Spronk et al 2014;Ferrão et al 2018).…”

Perceived Nutrition and Health Concerns: Do They Protect against Unhealthy Dietary Patterns in Polish Adults?

“…There are relatively few studies showing a relationship between BMI and the perception of diet, i.e., concern about nutrition. It is known, however, that the healthy diet perception score may decrease with increasing BMI [ 50 ]. Higher diet quality may attenuate genetic predisposition to obesity, and therefore people with a lower BMI may perceive a healthy diet differently than those with a higher BMI [ 51 ].…”