Jayne Julianna M, Frongillo Edward A, Torres-McGehee Toni M, Emerson Dawn M, Glover Saundra H, Blake Christine E
Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC.
Army Medical Department Center and School, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, 2450 Stanley Road, San Antonio, TX.
Mil Med. 2018 Nov 1;183(11-12):e666-e670. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usy056.
Promoting healthy eating among Soldiers is a priority to the Army due to the link between nutrition and performance. The Army typically uses nutrition education to encourage Soldiers to make healthier food choices with low emphasis on other psychosocial determinants of food choice behaviors.
Drill Sergeant Candidates (n = 575) completed surveys assessing nutrition knowledge, eating identity type, and food choice behaviors including fruit and vegetable intake, skipping meals, and eating out frequency. In multiple linear regression models using full-information maximum likelihood estimation while controlling for race/ethnicity, education, and marital status, we examined relationships between nutrition knowledge, a healthy eating identity, and Soldiers' food choice behaviors. The study was approved by the Department of Defense and University of South Carolina's Institutional Review Boards.
A healthy eating identity was positively associated with greater fruit and vegetable consumption (p < 0.05), and negatively associated with skipping meals and eating out frequency (p < 0.05). Nutrition knowledge was negatively associated with skipping meals (p < 0.05).
Findings suggest that fostering a healthy eating identity may be more effective for promoting healthy food choice behaviors than nutrition education alone. Determining if various points in a Soldier's career could be leveraged to influence a healthy eating identity and behaviors could be an important strategy to improve compliance with health promotion programs.
鉴于营养与体能表现之间的关联，促进士兵健康饮食是陆军的一项优先任务。陆军通常利用营养教育来鼓励士兵做出更健康的食物选择，而对食物选择行为的其他社会心理决定因素关注较少。
新兵训练营候选人员（n = 575）完成了多项调查，评估营养知识、饮食身份类型以及食物选择行为，包括水果和蔬菜摄入量、不吃饭情况以及外出就餐频率。在使用全信息最大似然估计的多元线性回归模型中，我们在控制种族/族裔、教育程度和婚姻状况的同时，研究了营养知识、健康饮食身份与士兵食物选择行为之间的关系。该研究获得了美国国防部和南卡罗来纳大学机构审查委员会的批准。
健康的饮食身份与更多的水果和蔬菜消费呈正相关（p < 0.05），与不吃饭和外出就餐频率呈负相关（p < 0.05）。营养知识与不吃饭呈负相关（p < 0.05）。
研究结果表明，培养健康的饮食身份可能比单纯的营养教育在促进健康食物选择行为方面更有效。确定是否可以利用士兵职业生涯中的不同阶段来影响健康的饮食身份和行为，可能是提高对健康促进计划依从性的一项重要策略。
