Dairy product preferences, nutrition attidudes and healthful food choices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the development and testing of two new questionnaires: 1) a dairy questionnaire (DQ) assessing health and nutrition beliefs and dairy product knowledge, preference, use; and 2) a brief, self-scored food habits questionnaire (FHQ) patterned on a food frequency design (past month). Two hypotheses were tested: 1) attitudes and knowledge about the relationship of nutrition to health (DQ items) would be reflected in healthy food choices (FHQ scores) and 2) dairy product preference (DQ items) would relate to overall dietary quality (FHQ scores). The study was done in two “stages” with content and stylistic revisions of both the DQ and FHQ between administrations. In the first stage, DQ (48 items) and FHQ (42 items) were completed by undergraduate students (n = 37) in a basic nutrition course. The FHQ was organized by 4 basic food groups plus ‘other’ (e.g.snacks, alcohol) and ‘fats’. Factor analysis was used with the DQ to group test items into dimensions which had explanatory power (Eigen values >5). Four DQ factors were identified and labeled to more meaningfully characterize the concepts: 1) “nutrition concern”; 2) “disbelief that fat is unhealthy”; 3) “food cures illness”; and 4) “my own eating is healthy”. A significant correlation (r=.41, p<.05) was noted between the factor 4 (my own eating is healthy) from DQ and an overall healthier food choice score on the FHQ. In the second stage, the DQ and FHQ were revised to drop ambiguous items, add items to the DQ which looked at negative influences on healthy eating (eg: personal, social, time, etc), and reorganize the FHQ to make it consistent with the USDA “food pyramid” concept. They were then administered to a second undergraduate nutrition class (n=84). Subsequent factor analysis of DQ produced 4 useful and interpretable factors labeled as follows: 1) “nutrition concern”; 2) “nutrition affects health”; 3) “food cures illness”; and 4) “my diet is poor & don't eat better due to personal stress”. “Nutrition concern” from the DQ correlated significantly with a better overall diet on FHQ (r=.41, p<.01) and with better scores in all food categories. Higher scores on Factor 4 (poor diet) related inversely to the overall FHQ score (r=−.28, p<.05) reflecting lower nutrition adequacy. Factor 4 had its strongest inverse relationship with the “other” (snacks, alcohol etc.) category (r=−.33, p<.01) indicating that poor diet due to stress was associated with intake of high fat snacks, alcohol and soft drinks with sugar. In addition to the factor scores, selection of specific dairy products on the DQ was examined. Low fat dairy preference predicted higher scores on the cereals/grains and fruit/vegetable categories (r=.26 & .34, p<.05 and .01 respectively) while dairy preference in general was associated with a poorer overall score on the FHQ (r=−.46, p<.01). The results indicate that health attitudes from a questionnaire can partially predict food choices and that the relationship of dairy product use to the healthfulness of the diet is complex, reflecting the wide range of fat content of dairy products.