Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
Department of Clinical Sciences, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Aug 23;16(17):3054. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16173054.
Asian Americans' food purchasing, cooking, and eating patterns are not well understood. Greater insight into these behaviors is urgently needed to guide public health interventions of dietary behaviors in this population. The present study aims to examine the effects of a community-level intervention on food purchasing and preparation, nutrition knowledge, and health awareness in Asian Americans. From 2015 to 2017, we conducted the Improving Diets with an Ecological Approach for Lifestyle (IDEAL-REACH) intervention to increase access to healthy food or beverage options for the Asian-American population in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Participants (1110 at pre- and 1098 at post-assessment) were recruited from 31 community-based organizations (CBOs). We assessed Asian Americans' dietary behaviors, nutrition knowledge, and awareness of heart health. The results of pre-post intervention comparisons showed that the IDEAL-REACH intervention was successful in promoting whole grains consumption, reducing sodium consumption, and raising knowledge and awareness related to nutrition and heart health. To our knowledge, this is one of the first initiatives in the U.S. to engage CBOs to promote healthier dietary behaviors. The findings show that CBOs serve as a powerful platform for community-level interventions to improve healthy nutrition behaviors in Asian-American communities.
亚裔美国人的食物购买、烹饪和饮食习惯尚未得到充分理解。迫切需要更深入地了解这些行为，以便为该人群的饮食行为指导公共卫生干预措施。本研究旨在探讨社区层面干预对亚裔美国人食物购买和准备、营养知识和健康意识的影响。
2015 年至 2017 年，我们开展了“通过生态方法改善生活方式的饮食（IDEAL-REACH）”干预活动，以增加费城大都市区亚裔美国人获得健康食品或饮料的机会。参与者（1110 名在预评估和 1098 名在后期评估中）从 31 个社区组织（CBO）招募而来。我们评估了亚裔美国人的饮食行为、营养知识和心脏健康意识。
干预前后比较的结果表明，IDEAL-REACH 干预成功地促进了全谷物的消费，减少了钠的摄入，并提高了与营养和心脏健康相关的知识和意识。
据我们所知，这是美国首次利用社区组织来促进更健康饮食行为的举措之一。研究结果表明，社区组织是开展社区层面干预措施以改善亚裔美国人社区健康营养行为的有力平台。
