A Study on the Knowledge, Dietary Behavior related to Sodium, Attitudes towards a Low-Salt Diet of Adults in the Jeonbuk Area

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify adults' knowledge, dietary behavior related to sodium, the attitude towards a low-salt diet, and to examine the relation between these variables. The participants were 366 adults in Jeonbuk area. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, ANOVA and Duncan test with SPSS v. 12.0. The score for participants' knowledge about sodium was 12.32 points of a possible 16, the score for dietary behavior related to sodium was 45.74 points of a possible 70, and their score for attitude towards a low-salt diet was 30.35 points of a possible 50. The knowledge showed significant differences by gender (p<.05), and concern about health (p<.05). The dietary behavior of sodium use showed significant differences by gender (p<.001), age (p<.001), educational level (p<.05), job (p<.001), income (p<.05), BMI (p<.05), smoking (p<.01), drinking (p<.01), exercise (p<.05), regularity of health checkup (p<.001), and concern about health (p<.01). The attitude towards a low-salt diet showed significant differences by gender (p<.001), age (p<.001), job (p<.001), income (p<.001), smoking (p<.05), regularity of health checkup (p<.001), and concern about health (p<.001). There was a significant positive correlation between knowledge about sodium, dietary behavior related to sodium, attitude towards a low-salt diet. Dietary behavior related to sodium showed a positive correlation with attitudes towards a low-salt diet. In conclusion, it is necessary to consider the related factors for the development and implementation of systematic education programs that can encourage and promote preventive dietary behavior for disease, e.g. stomach cancer, and hypertension among adults.