Aureli Vittoria, Rossi Laura
CREA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, Rome, Italy.
Front Nutr. 2022 Mar 21;9:804865. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.804865. eCollection 2022.
An optimal Nutrition knowledge (NK) among the population could result in greater Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (AMD), a recognized dietary pattern capable of preventing chronic food-related diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the association between NK and AMD in Italy.
A national representative sample of 2,869 adults took part in an assessment that was carried out through a self-administrated questionnaire including sections relating to NK and AMD. AMD was evaluated following the PREDIMED PLUS methodology. Descriptive statistics were provided, and ordinal measures of NK score and AMD were calculated based on quartiles of the quantitative scores. A contingency analysis was performed to check associations between variables.
In Italy, the average NK score was 50 ± 13.3, equivalent to 56.8% of correct answers. The average value of AMD was 6.8, corresponding to 40% of the maximum score with 31.4% of the population demonstrating low AMD, 31.3% in the lower-middle range, 24% in the medium-high range, and only 13.3% reporting a high AMD. A significant association between NK and AMD was found; respondents who reported the lowest AMD corresponded to those with the lowest NK (36.7%; < 0.05) and similarly, those with the highest level of adherence to MD also achieved the highest NK scores (41.7%; < 0.05).
This study showed that AMD in Italy is generally low, and the strong association between NK and AMD demonstrated that there is a clear connection between a healthy dietary pattern and the nutrition literacy of the population. Those with the highest AMD corresponded to the highest NK and, conversely, those with the lowest AMD displayed the lowest NK. The study also highlighted that socioeconomic aspects were strong determinants of both AMD and NK.
人群中具备最佳营养知识（NK）有助于更好地坚持地中海饮食（AMD），这是一种公认的能预防慢性食物相关疾病的饮食模式。本研究旨在评估意大利NK与AMD之间的关联。
2869名成年人的全国代表性样本参与了一项评估，该评估通过一份自填式问卷进行，问卷包括与NK和AMD相关的部分。AMD按照PREDIMED PLUS方法进行评估。提供了描述性统计数据，并根据定量分数的四分位数计算了NK分数和AMD的序数测量值。进行了列联分析以检验变量之间的关联。
在意大利，NK平均得分为50±13.3，相当于正确答案的56.8%。AMD的平均值为6.8，对应最高分数的40%，31.4%的人群表现出低AMD，31.3%处于中低范围，24%处于中高范围，只有13.3%报告高AMD。发现NK与AMD之间存在显著关联；报告最低AMD的受访者对应NK最低的受访者（36.7%；<0.05），同样，对MD依从性最高的受访者NK得分也最高（41.7%；<0.05）。
本研究表明，意大利的AMD普遍较低，NK与AMD之间的强关联表明健康饮食模式与人群营养素养之间存在明确联系。AMD最高的人群对应NK最高，反之，AMD最低的人群NK也最低。该研究还强调，社会经济因素是AMD和NK的重要决定因素。
