Status of nutritional literacy in adolescents in the semi-rural area in Turkey and related factors

Abstract

Objective: To determine the status of nutritional literacy and its affecting factors among the adolescents who are in the 9th grade in Çivril, in Denizli province, in Turkey. Design: This is a cross-sectional study that determines the sociodemographic characteristics, nutritional habits, nutritional behavior, nutritional literacy status of adolescents, and affecting factors. Setting: Denizli, Turkey. Participants: We included 523 adolescents in ninth grade in this study. Results: Half (49.7%) of the participants were female; 47%, in normal body mass index; and 68.1%, non-smokers. The mean (±SD) Adolescent Nutrition Literacy Scale score was 67.6±7.9. Nutrition literacy status was related to mothers’ education level (p: 0.021); health perceptions (p: 0.008); positive body perception (p: 0.032); unhealthy food consumption status (p:0.017); information barriers [undecided about effort for information gathering (p: 0.026), undecided about the difficulty of understanding information (p: 0.042), and thinking it’s difficult to understand (p:0.003)], trust in nutrition, diet information sources [nutrition and diet expert, dietitian trusting (according to others) (p: 0.001), nutrition and diet expert, dietitian neutral to trust (compared to others) (p: 0.011) and trust in textbooks (p: 0.023)]. Conclusions: The level of nutrition literacy status of participants was moderate. It is important to carry out interventions to increase the education level of women, positive body perceptions, and general health perceptions of adolescents and to remove information barriers related to nutrition.

The Association Between Bangladeshi Adults’ Demographics, Personal Beliefs, and Nutrition Literacy: Evidence From a Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Overall, the findings reported moderate nutrition literacy among respondents, which is consistent with the finding of other studies conducted among adolescents and young adults in Turkey ( 24 , 26 ). A plausible explanation for this finding could be due to the presence of the National Dietary Guideline which promotes and educates adults in Bangladesh on nutrition literacy.…”

“…A range of factors such as mothers’ educational level, perception of health, unhealthy food consumption status, and having a positive body perception has been linked with nutrition literacy ( 26 ). A previous study among adults in Sivas province of Turkey reported a correlation between the mean nutrition literacy scores and variables such as gender, education and profession ( 27 ).…”

“…A handful of studies have been conducted on nutrition literacy among different subgroups of the population (i.e., adolescents, students, and adults) in Turkey ( 24 , 26 ), Taiwan ( 31 ), Iran ( 21 , 32 ), Palestine ( 28 ). However, there is a lack of available evidence investigating adults’ nutrition literacy, demographics, and personal beliefs in Bangladesh.…”

Nutrition and Food Literacy in the MENA Region: A Review to Inform Nutrition Research and Policy Makers

“…Multiple tools with different psychometric properties also exist and were used outside the MENA boundaries; these include the Food Literacy Assessment Tool for Healthy, Joyful, and Sustainable Diet in South Korea [ 51 ], Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FNLQ-SC) [ 52 ], a food literacy instrument for school children in a Danish context [ 53 ], Food Literacy Assessment Tool (FLitT) in the United States (U.S.) [ 54 ], Thai-Nutrition Literacy Assessment Tool for Adolescents (Thailand) [ 55 ], preschool-FLAT for Italian children [ 56 ], Tool for Food Literacy Assessment in Children (TFLAC) in U.S. [ 57 ], Critical Nutrition Literacy Scale (CNL-E) (Norway) [ 58 ], Menu Board Literacy, and Self-Efficacy Scale for Children in the U.S. [ 59 ], the dietary behavior scale and the self-efficacy in science scale (Norway) [ 60 ], Food Label Literacy for Applied Nutrition Knowledge (FLLANK) Questionnaire in the U.S. [ 61 ], Adolescent Nutrition Literacy Scale (ANLS) in Turkey [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ], 19-item food literacy measurement tool in Korea [ 66 ], Nutrition Literacy Scale-Greek (NLS-Gr) [ 67 ], Your PEL—Promote and Empower for Health Literacy (with a food-literacy scale) in Portugal [ 68 ], NLit-P in the U.S. [ 69 ], Spanish Nutrition Literacy Scale [ 70 ], Electronic-Nutrition Literacy Tool (eNutLit) [ 71 ], Short Food Literacy Questionnaire (SFLQ) [ 72 ], and Italian Food Literacy Survey (IT-FLS) [ 73 ].…”

Nutrition and food literacy – concept, measurement methods, determinants, and meaning

“…In Englishlanguage publications, several terms are used to refer to nutrition and food-related literacy. These include terms such as 'nutrition literacy' [8], 'nutritional literacy' [9], and 'food literacy' [10]. To date, there is no term referring to these types of skills in the Polish language 1 .…”