Tailored nutrition education: is it really effective?

Abstract

Objective: There has been a growing interest in tailored nutrition education over the previous decade, with a number of literature reviews suggesting this intervention strategy holds considerable potential. Nevertheless, the majority of intervention trials undertaken to date have employed subjective self-report outcome measures (such as dietary recalls). The aim of the present review is to further consider the likely true effect of tailored nutrition education by assessing the findings of tailored nutrition education intervention trials where objective outcome measures (such as sales data) have been employed. Results: Four trials of tailored nutrition education employing objective outcome measures were identified: one was undertaken in eight low-cost supermarkets in New Zealand (2010; n 1104); one was an online intervention trial in Australia (2006; n 497); and two were undertaken in US supermarkets (1997 and 2001; n 105 and 296, respectively). Findings from the high-quality New Zealand trial were negative. Findings from the US trials were also generally negative, although reporting was poor making it difficult to assess quality. Findings from the high-quality online trial were positive, although have limited generalisability for public health. Conclusions: Trials employing objective outcome measures strongly suggest tailored nutrition education is not effective as a stand-alone strategy. However, further large, high-quality trials employing objective outcome measures are needed to determine the true effectiveness of this popular nutrition intervention strategy. Regardless, education plays an important role in generating social understanding and acceptance of broader interventions to improve nutrition.

The mix of good nutritional attitude and poor nutritional knowledge is associated with adequate intake of vitamin A and iron from wild fruits and vegetables among rural households in Acholi subregion of Northern Uganda

“…This is evidenced by the fact that up to 63% of the households never attended any nutrition education while only 24 and 14% received nutrition education once and twice, respectively. Multiple attendance of nutrition education has been shown to improve nutrition knowledge (Eyles & Mhurchu, 2011; Pomerleau, Lock, Knai, & McKee, 2005). Lack of correlation between nutritional knowledge and attitude revealed by the current study deviates from the findings of other nutrition‐related studies conducted before.…”

Nutrition interventions at point-of-sale to encourage healthier food purchasing: a systematic review

“…Due to the limited number of studies and study variability no conclusive findings could be drawn. A second review examined the effectiveness of tailored nutrition education on objective outcome measures only [6]. There were substantial differences in the theoretical underpinnings of the interventions applied in the four included studies.…”

The personal shopper – a pilot randomized trial of grocery store‐based dietary advice

“…Even with very hands-off POP interventions, such as in-store marketing or menu labelling, some studies have observed an impact on consumer behaviour 17 , 26 . On balance, however, much more research is needed on the most effective methods of changing food-purchasing behaviour, including further evaluation of more tailored approaches such as this one 19 , 20 , 26 . Compared with an ecological approach, our tailored approach of multiple sessions with a dietician requires more time commitment from the dietician and patient.…”

“…taxation, altered signage, healthier check-out aisles) are not easily tailored to individual health needs. There is considerably less evidence available on interventions where registered dieticians or health educators conduct sessions with individual consumers in the grocery store or supermarket 20 . In part, this could be due to the perceived resource-intensity of such programmes.…”