Food and nutrition literacy (FNLIT) and its predictors in primary schoolchildren in Iran

Abstract

This study used a locally designed and validated questionnaire to describe the distribution of food and nutrition literacy (FNLIT) in a cross-sectional sample of 803 students aged 10-12 years from elementary schools in Tehran city, Iran. Logistic regression was used to assess the extent to which various independent covariates were associated with low FNLIT. The data were used to identify significant differences using a range of social and cultural variables relevant to the context of school students in Iran. The results of the study showed that although the total FNLIT level was good, this headline finding masked important differences in the sub-domains. More than half of the children (69%) had high levels of FNLIT in the cognitive domain, but in the skills domain, very few (3%) scored highly. The study also identified some associations between the total FNLIT and its subscales and sociodemographic variables including gender, parent's education and age, birth order. These results highlighted groups within the school population who were at higher risk of having lower FNLIT levels. They also indicate that girls feel more able to exert choice and control over food and nutrition decisions than boys are but may be less able to do so in practice. Overall, these results are a general reminder to schools of the different learning needs of children from different family backgrounds. The article highlights the need for continuous improvement in the health education curriculum of schools in Iran, particularly highlighting the importance of giving greater attention to the development of practical food and nutrition skills alongside more traditional food and nutrition knowledge. Additional studies (with long-term follow-up) are needed to more fully assess and understand the predictors of FNLIT.

Maternal health literacy of ethnic Hungarian mothers in Romania

“…That is, mothers with low educational attainment and unfavorable social status know just as much about what kind of diet is recommended for the child as those with high education. This finding is one of the few unexpected outcomes from our analysis as it contradicts the evidence of international studies on the association between education and nutrition literacy (Doustmohammadian et al, 2018;Speirs et al, 2012).…”

“…Nutrition literacy is a topic of maternal health literacy which, unlike the other domains and unlike in other parts of the world (Doustmohammadian et al, 2018;Speirs et al, 2012), remains independent of the existing social and demographic inequalities among mothers. Here, parental knowledge is most homogeneous.…”

Readiness for behavioral change of discretionary salt intake among women in Tehran, Iran

“…Similarly, Jeong showed that those with low income and education level consume more salt [54]. It is clear that a low level of education is a serious limitation for achieving dietary knowledge and selecting healthy dietary behaviors [55]. The role of women is more important considering the pivotal role in buying the ingredients, preparing food, regulating the diet, and dietary choices [56].…”

School-based interventions for promoting food and nutrition literacy (FNLIT) in elementary school children: a systematic review protocol

“…If sufficient studies are identified and data points are available, potential sources of heterogeneity will be investigated further by subgroup or meta-regression analysis according to baseline characteristics and methodological covariates. We plan to conduct analyses by sex (girls vs boys) [47], age (e.g., children vs adolescent, midpoint of age range as continuous variable) [36,47], type of study (RCT, casecontrol, pre-post, etc. ), food literacy/nutrition literacy level (e.g., low, moderate or high), sample size (e.g., < 1000, 1000-5000, or > 5000 participants), and study quality (e.g., low/moderate vs high-risk of bias).…”