Attitudes toward healthy eating: a mediator of the educational level-diet relationship

作者：Le J; Dallongeville J; Wagner A; Arveiler D; Haas B; Cottel D; Simon C; Dauchet L^*

来源：European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2013, 67(8): 808-814.

DOI：10.1038/ejcn.2013.110

• attitude to health
• diet
• food habits
• social class
• socioeconomic factors
• educational status

BACKGROUNG/OBJECTIVES: A higher educational level is associated with a healthier diet. The goal of this study was to establish whether this association is mediated by attitudes toward healthy eating. %26lt;br%26gt;SUBJECTS/METHODS: The cross-sectional MONA LISA-NUT study was performed in 2005-2007 on adults aged 35-64 years from northern and north-eastern France. Diet quality was assessed on the basis of a 3-day food record and a validated score based on French national dietary guidelines. Specific questions investigated attitudes toward healthy eating. Multivariate analyses were used to quantify the proportion of the educational level-diet relationship that was mediated by attitudes toward healthy eating. %26lt;br%26gt;RESULTS: Among the 1631 subjects, favourable attitudes toward healthy eating were associated with both higher educational level and diet quality. In the mediation analysis, %26apos;organic food consumption%26apos; explained 14% (95% confidence interval (8;24)) of the educational level-diet relationship and %26apos;attention paid to health when buying food%26apos; explained 9% (3;16). In contrast, %26apos;attention to food choice%26apos;, %26apos;searching for information about food%26apos; and %26apos;perceived role of eating%26apos; were not mediators of the association between educational level and diet. In a multivariate model, the attitude items together accounted for 25% (10;45) of the relationship. The mediation was more pronounced in women than in men (37% (15;54) vs 16% (1;27), respectively) and was significant for consumption of fruits and vegetables (23% (13;37)), whole-grain food (32% (15;58)) and seafood (22% (9;55)). %26lt;br%26gt;CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that poor attitudes toward healthy eating in groups with low socioeconomic status constitute an additional factor (along with cost constraints) in the choice of unhealthy foods.

• 出版日期2013-8