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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Eating Behavior
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1453815
This article is part of the Research Topic Eating Disorders and Eating Disorder Awareness View all 6 articles

The association between dietary knowledge based on the Chinese Dietary Guidelines and adherence to healthy dietary habits: A large-scale crosssectional study

Provisionally accepted
Zhongyu Ren Zhongyu Ren 1*Zixuan Hao Zixuan Hao 1Jianhua Cao Jianhua Cao 2
  • 1 Southwest University, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Previous systematic review has shown that individuals with more comprehensive dietary knowledge tend to engage in healthier eating patterns among American or European population. However, research on the association between dietary knowledge based on the Chinese Dietary Guidelines and healthy dietary behaviors, particularly among adolescents and college students in China, is lacking. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary knowledge based on the Chinese Dietary Guidelines and adherence to healthy dietary behaviors among adolescents and college students in China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in China in August and October 2023. The study involved 527 adolescents and 11,856 college students. A convenience and cluster sampling methodology was employed to select one or two grades from 33 different university majors. The dietary behaviors of college students were evaluated by assessing their consumption of nine food groups: water, eggs, milk and milk products, vegetables, fruit, red meat, soy and soy products, seafood, and sugar-sweetened beverages. The dietary behaviors of adolescents were evaluated by assessing their consumption of five food groups: fast food, salty snack foods, fruits, vegetables, and soft drinks and sugared fruit beverages. The participants' dietary knowledge was assessed using the Chinese Dietary Guidelines. The relationship between dietary knowledge and behaviors was examined using a multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: The questionnaire response rate was 100.0%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a significant positive association between dietary knowledge and the likelihood of exhibiting diverse dietary behaviors among both adolescents and college students. After adjusting for gender, age, family income, place of residence, and parents' education levels, the results demonstrated a positive association between dietary knowledge and adherence to 4-8

    Keywords: Dietary knowledge, Chinese dietary guidelines, dietary habits, Cross-sectional, Chinese

    Received: 24 Jun 2024; Accepted: 16 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ren, Hao and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhongyu Ren, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.