Adequate protein intake has an important role in maintaining musculoskeletal health, independence and strength during ageing. To design age-appropriate nutritional interventions, it is necessary to understand public knowledge, attitudes and perceptions surrounding dietary protein. Thus, the study aimed to investigate knowledge of protein requirements, functions, and sources, as well as attitudes towards educational materials surrounding these topics. This was addressed through an online survey with 341 consumers (74% female, 66% residing in Southeast England): here it was highlighted that participants aged 18–89 years had poor knowledge regarding protein functions, a high meat-dependency for protein sources, and a desire to learn about more plant-based protein sources. Notably only 25.8% of participants correctly identified the recommended protein intake, highlighting low levels of population knowledge. This was further explored through focus groups with younger and older adults (n = 15 aged 18–30, n = 17 aged 65+), where a knowledge deficit was seen independent of age. The most common barriers to high protein consumption were confusion, misinformation, cost, and motivation. Whilst younger adults expressed a preference for supplementation, older adults were sceptical about the need for these products. Awareness regarding the benefits of protein was low in all participants, highlighting this as a potential avenue to increase motivation for consumption. Older adults expressed a preference for educational interventions in a paper format, whereas younger adults preferred digital content and videos. There was a unanimous desire for more trustworthy nutritional information. These findings provide insight that will facilitate the development of better educational materials to increase the nutritional knowledge of UK consumers.
Holly Giles, C. Clark, L. Methven et al.· Frontiers in Nutrition· 0 citations
Insufficient dietary fibre intake can increase chronic disease risk with identification of effective strategies considered a public health priority. However, there are no UK-based dietary fibre intake tools to estimate consumption habits. This study addresses this gap by developing a novel dietary fibre screening tool (SCREEN-IT) for the UK population and explores validity, reproducibility and usability insights. SCREEN-IT was developed based on key dietary fibre-rich food categories in the UK diet. The validity of SCREEN-IT (10-item) was tested against a UK-based Food Frequency Questionnaire (eNutri-FFQ; 157-item) seven-days apart (n = 70; 55.1 ± 18.7 years). SCREEN-IT reproducibility (n = 155; 51.7 ± 18.2 years) was evaluated on two occasions (four-weeks apart) and usability (System Usability Scale; SUS) was assessed. Intra-class correlation coefficients, percentage difference, quartile agreement, weighted kappa and Bland-Altman plots were used to quantify agreement and extent of bias. Agreement between methods (SCREEN-IT vs. eNutri-FFQ) was “acceptable to good agreement”; higher dietary fibre estimates from eNutri-FFQ (mean bias: −3.91 g/d). SCREEN-IT was quick to complete (< 5-min) with higher SUS than eNutri-FFQ (83.4 vs. 76.8/100). SCREEN-IT was reproducible on re-test (“acceptable to good agreement”), mean bias close to zero (−0.04 g/d), high usability (84.9/100) and received positive feedback (easy-to-use, functional, thought-provoking, enjoyable). SCREEN-IT was successfully developed with favourable validity, reproducibility and usability feedback. It was considered a suitable tool to estimate dietary fibre intake for the UK population. This novel tool could help raise dietary fibre awareness by promoting relevant food sources in a quick and easy way to increase future intake.
Victoria Norton, J. Lovegrove, M. Weech et al.· European Journal of Nutritio...· 1 citation
