Aim: To examine the association of nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior among preadolescents in the greater urban area of Athens.
Methods: 615 school-aged children 10–12 years from the metropolitan area of Athens were enrolled in the study, in 2014–2015 and 2015-2016. Anthropometric data (height, weight, BMI z-score, waist circumference) and a short food frequency questionnaire were collected. A nutrition knowledge test (NKT) score was calculated based on the knowledge of 4 basic food groups. The statistical package SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0) was used for all the analyses (chi-squared test, multinomial logistic regression).
Results: A negative significant association was observed between the nutrition knowledge and the soft drinks (p<0.001), chocolates/croissants/biscuits (p=0.01) and cheese puffs/crisps consumption (p=0.034) in the total sample. Among boys a negative significant association was detected between the nutrition knowledge and the soft drinks (p<0.001), canned juices (p=0.003), chocolate/croissants/biscuits (p<0.001) and cheese puffs/crisps consumption (p=0.02). Among girls no significant associations were found between nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior. Overall, preadolescents showed a modest level of nutrition knowledge (58%). The odds ratio (O.R.) of achieving a higher nutrition knowledge score decreased with weight status (O.R.: 0.45; 95% C.I.: 0.27-0.74; p=0.002) with no sex differences.
Conclusion: Healthy weight preadolescents tend to have better nutritional knowledge, which is associated with healthier nutritional behavior, compared to overweight and obese preadolescents.
Hellenic J Nutr Diet 2020, 12(1-2):3-13
