Although entomophagy as a diet has been known since the dawn of humanity, it is still considered a novelty to the European market and consumers. This study was performed to evaluate the acceptance of a trend promoted by the FAO diet regarding selected young Polish consumers and it presents the results of a survey conducted among them. The primary goal of this study was to assess the acceptance of new edible insect products with mealworms Tenebrio molitor L. and house crickets Acheta domesticus L. These products were prepared in the form of four different types of bars; one without insects, one with whole mealworms, one with ground mealworms and one with ground crickets. According to consumers, the worst bars were the ones which contained the whole mealworms. Additionally, the main problems with accepting this product were caused by the colour of the ground crickets and visible whole pieces of the insects in the edible bars. The study proved that the acceptance of insect bars as food depends on the tastiness and smell. The acceptance of bars also depends on variants. The basic bar had the highest acceptance rate, while the bar with whole mealworms had the lowest one.

Background. Adequate nutrition is one of the most important environmental factor that determines the development of children and adolescents. Childhood, as well as puberty significantly take part in forming proper nutritional attitudes and behaviours. Objectives. Assessment of selected nutritional behaviors among college adolescents from Pomerania Province. Subjects were students of high schools, trade schools and technical institutes. Material and methods. In the study 198 students participated-121 girls and 77 boys. A study was conducted during school year 2012/2013. Nutritional behavior was assessed due to an anonymous questionnaire that concerned nutritional self-assessment of adolescents, their interests in healthy dietary patterns, amount and type of daily consumed foods, time of consumption of last meal of the day, snacking between main meals; frequency together with a quality of the snacks, and sources of dietary knowledge acquisition. Results. Data analysis showed that boys ate dinner and supper statistically significantly more frequently than girls. Gender also defined consumption of products from different food groups. Boys statistically significantly more often were choosing white bread, dumplings, pasta, milk, red meat, poultry and eggs. The amount of underweight girls was three times higher than underweight boys. Snacking was observed in 99.0% of the study group. Diet regimens were conducted statistically more often by girls (37.5%) than boys (6.3%). Conclusions. It has been shown that there are a number of abnormal nutritional behaviors in the study group. This indicates the need for their correction through the education of both young people, but also parents and legal guardians. It is recommended that workshops, youth training by nutritionists in the field of proper nutrition and eating behavior.

The aim of the study was to organize definitions and relations between the concepts of the consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. The work also included a synthetic discussion of the conditions for the development of the novel food market. The concept of changes taking place in the food market, which was based on the Darwinian economics, was an important part of the paper. Some researchers focused only on the assessment of the frequency and / or volume of consumption, i.e. on the assessment of behavior or on the assessment of knowledge on the subject. However, the research problem concerning the assessment of attitudes towards a specific type of food has been omitted. The results of a few studies on attitudes towards specific food products indicate that the attitudes of the respondents correspond with the frequency and volume of consumption of specific food products, thus indicating that there is a relationship between attitudes and consumer behavior in the food market, including market of new products.

Wzrost liczby osób starszych w danej populacji jest następstwem lepszych warunków bytowych, opieki zdrowotnej i innych czynników charakterystycznych dla rozwiniętych społeczeństw. Jednym z wyznaczników samopoczucia ludzi jest jakość ich życia określana przez zdrowie, psychikę, niezależność czy więzi społeczne. Problem jest szczególnie ważny w grupie osób w starszym wieku i był przedmiotem licznych doniesień naukowych. Celem niniejszego artykułu był krytyczny przegląd publikacji naukowych dotyczących problematyki jakości życia osób starszych i wskazanie na tej podstawie najważniejszych osiągnięć oraz obszarów wymagających dalszych badań. Pojęcie jakości życia nie jest dotychczas precyzyjnie zdefiniowane, podobnie jak determinanty charakteryzujące to pojęcie. Scharakteryzowano determinanty, które zdaniem autorów mają istotne znaczenie w ocenie jakości życia ludzi starszych. Zaliczono do nich zdrowie, żywienie, aktywność umysłową i fizyczną, wykształcenie, kontekst społeczny. Zdrowie jest najbardziej istotnym czynnikiem kształtującym jakość życia, niezależnie od rejonu geograficznego. Stan zdrowia wpływa przede wszystkim na samodzielność życiową. W licznych publikacjach dominuje pogląd, że otoczenie społeczne jest drugą determinantą jakości życia. Otoczenie jest przy tym rozumiane jako rodzina, przyjaciele i znajomi, wreszcie grupa społeczna w podobnym wieku. Aktywność umysłowa (w tym edukacja) i fizyczna to dalsze istotne czynniki wpływające na jakość życia seniorów, przy czym aktywność umysłowa była częstsza niż aktywność fizyczna. Przegląd dotychczasowych wyników badań jakości życia osób starszych skłania do stwierdzenia, że istnieją zróżnicowane domeny i determinanty jakości. Badania tej grupy społecznej były fragmentaryczne, mimo to dobrze opisywały model jakości życia seniorów. W szczególności wskazywano na celowość różnych przedsięwzięć poprawiających jakość życia w okresie późnej starości.

Background. This study is an introduction to the of learning key factors affecting the process of acceptance of edible insects by Polish consumers, currently only from Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot (the Tri-City) in northern Poland. Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess the attitudes of Tri-City consumers towards edible insects. It was expressed in the assessment of food diversity in relation to eating benefits of edible insects and to assessment of the levels of dietary neophobia for consumers who perceive the risk of eating them. This study contributes to consumers' getting used to edible insects. Material and methods. The study was carried out in 2015 among 788 participants ranged from 16 to 80 years. The criterion for participation was the place of residence -the Tri-City. The respondents were qualified in three age groups 16-20 years old, 21-40 years old and over 41 years old. The study was conducted using a survey method. The survey questionnaire included the following scales: the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) and the Variety Seeking Tendency Scale (VARSEEK) perceiving benefits and perception of health hazards associated with the consumption of edible insects compared to traditional and culturally foreign food. Results. The majority of seekers with a high degree of VARSEEK were men aged 21-40 with higher education. The degree of search for diversity in food significantly depended on factors such as gender, age and education. Gender statistically significantly differentiated the opinions of the respondents regarding the health benefits conditioned by the consumption of various products only in the case of snakes and crickets. A statistically significant effect of age on the opinions of respondents regarding health benefits was shown, which was related to the consumption of: snakes, locusts, horse, tarantula. Whereas it was highly significant when it comes to consumption of: snails, crickets, poultry, beef and pork was demonstrated. Age and education were the factors that had a significant influence of the neophobia level, while gender did not have a significant influence. Conclusion. Respondents from the Tri-City were characterized by high openness to new food. The 21-40 age group with university education was particularly outstanding. More women than men had low levels of neophobia. At the same time, it was mainly men who were looking for diversity in food. The obtained results try to explain the issue of acceptance conditions of a new and rather controversial product, which are edible insects to the inhabitants of Europe. STRESZCZENIEWprowadzenie: Niniejsze badanie jest wstępem do procesu poznawania kluczowych czynników wpływających na proces akceptacji owadów jadalnych przez polskich konsumentów, na chwilę obecną tylko z obszaru miast Gdańska, Gdyni i Sopotu (Trójmiasta) północnej Polski. Cel: Celem badań była ocena postaw trójmiejskich konsumentów (Polska) wobec owadów jadalnych, wyrażająca się w ocenie stopnia poszukiwania różnorodności w żywności względem korzyści zdrowotnych związanych ze spożycia o...