School of Medical Indigenous and Health Sciences, Faculty of Science Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
Nutrients. 2023 Feb 27;15(5):1194. doi: 10.3390/nu15051194.
Despite the positive relationship between anthocyanin-rich foods and cognitive health, a dietary deficit exists in older adults. Effective interventions require an understanding of people's dietary behaviors situated in social and cultural contexts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore older adults' perceptions about increasing their consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods for cognitive health. Following an educational session and the provision of a recipe and information book, an online survey and focus groups with Australian adults aged 65 years or older ( = 20) explored the barriers and enablers towards eating more anthocyanin-rich foods and potential strategies to achieve dietary change. An iterative, qualitative analysis identified the themes and classified the barriers, enablers and strategies onto the Social-Ecological model levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, community, society). Enabling factors included a desire to eat healthily, taste preference and familiarity of anthocyanin-rich foods (individual), social support (community), and the availability of some anthocyanin-rich foods (society). The barriers included budget, dietary preferences and motivation (individual), household influences (interpersonal), limited availability and access to some anthocyanin-rich foods (community) and the cost and the seasonal variability (society). The strategies included increasing individual-level knowledge, skills, and confidence in utilizing anthocyanin-rich foods, educational initiatives about the potential cognitive benefits, and advocating to increase access to anthocyanin-rich foods in the food supply. This study provides for the first time, insight into the various levels of influence impacting older adults' ability to consume an anthocyanin-rich diet for cognitive health. Future interventions should be tailored to reflect the barriers and enablers and to provide targeted education about anthocyanin-rich foods.
尽管富含花青素的食物与认知健康之间存在积极关系，但老年人的饮食中仍存在不足。有效的干预措施需要了解人们在社会和文化背景下的饮食行为。因此，本研究旨在探讨老年人对增加富含花青素的食物摄入量以促进认知健康的看法。在进行了一次教育课程并提供了食谱和信息手册后，一项针对澳大利亚 65 岁及以上成年人（n=20）的在线调查和焦点小组探讨了增加富含花青素的食物摄入量的障碍和促进因素，以及实现饮食改变的潜在策略。通过迭代的定性分析，确定了主题，并将障碍、促进因素和策略分类归入社会生态学模型的影响层面（个体、人际、社区、社会）。促进因素包括健康饮食的愿望、对花青素丰富食物的口味偏好和熟悉度（个体）、社会支持（社区）和一些花青素丰富食物的可获得性（社会）。障碍包括预算、饮食偏好和动机（个体）、家庭影响（人际）、一些花青素丰富食物的有限可用性和可及性（社区）以及成本和季节性变化（社会）。策略包括提高个体层面的知识、技能和信心，以利用富含花青素的食物，关于潜在认知益处的教育举措，以及倡导增加富含花青素的食物在食物供应中的可及性。本研究首次深入了解了影响老年人摄入富含花青素饮食以促进认知健康的各种影响层面。未来的干预措施应根据障碍和促进因素进行定制，并提供有关富含花青素食物的针对性教育。
