The relation between consumption of whole wheat bread and chronic diseases in Kayseri: Level of knowledge of consumers about whole wheat bread

Abstract

This research was performed to investigate the relationship between whole wheat bread and chronic diseases and to determine knowledge levels of consumers in Kayseri. 1200 participants randomly selected were grouped as consuming and not consuming whole wheat bread and their characteristics were obtained by questionnaire form. The average age of participants was 33.0±1.0 years. While 43.4% of participants consumed whole wheat bread, 56.6 of them didn’t consume. It was detected that the consumption of whole wheat bread decreased as the ages of the participants increased (p <0.05). Although not significant, rate of undergraduate and postgraduate education level was higher in those who consume whole wheat bread than in those who non consume (51.3%). The differences between the groups in terms of income level were significant (p <0.05). The rate of diagnosed diseases were higher in those who don’t consume whole wheat bread (41.5%) than in those who consume (34.9%) and it was determined that there is a relationship between whole wheat bread consumption and presence of chronic disease (p<0.05). It was found that 66.4% of participants prefer whole wheat bread because of it is healthy and easily accessible (45.7%). In both of two groups, the ratio of those who know the difference between breads was higher than the ratio of those who don’t know (p<0.05). The rate of those who are not aware of the Ministry of Health's work was lower in those who consume whole wheat bread (43.6%) than in those who don’t consume (59.4%). While 50.3% of those who consume whole wheat bread read nutrition facts label, this rate was 26.4 in those who don’t consume (p<0.05).