Food Science and Nutrition Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, 11495, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Oct 12;23(1):1984. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16435-8.
Dietary Guidelines for Saudis are offered and promoted in two forms: the Healthy Food Palm and the Saudi Healthy Plate. However, public awareness, recognition, and engagement with these guidelines is not well studied. Understanding the factors behind dietary guideline promotion, awareness, recognition, and use may lead to greater optimization of and engagement with the guidelines. This study aims to assess recognition of and public engagement with the My Palm and My Plate dietary guidelines as well as dietary guideline awareness, perceptions, and preferences among Saudis.
To compare awareness, knowledge, and usability between the Healthy Food Palm and the Saudi Healthy Plate dietary guidelines, a cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among Saudi adult males and females above 18 (n = 674) between October 2021 and January 2022. Participants were split into groups based on age and gender. T-test and χ2 tests were used to determine differences between groups for continuous and categorical variables, respectively.
Most participants were unaware of the Healthy Food Palm and the Saudi Healthy Plate guidelines, with only 11.1% and 30.3% able to recognize guideline-associated visual illustrations, respectively. However, nearly half of the participants correctly identified the number of food groups in the Healthy Food Palm and Saudi Healthy Plate. As well, more than half of the sample preferred the Saudi Healthy Plate, while one-quarter of the sample preferred neither guideline. In terms of future public health promotion, participants identified that "convenience and availability" (29.6%) and "my own health" (28.6%) were the most influential dietary choice factors with "social media campaigns" (2.4%) and the involvement of "an influencer" (3.1%) being the least influential dietary choice factors.
Implementation of and public awareness of dietary guidelines is less than optimal, and opportunities exist for greater information dissemination and public engagement. Measurement and ongoing evaluation of public dietary guideline awareness and use and a more in-depth understanding of dietary choice influences and behaviors are important considerations for dietary guideline development and promotion.
沙特的膳食指南有两种形式：健康食品棕榈和沙特健康餐盘。然而，公众对这些指南的认识、认可和参与程度尚未得到充分研究。了解膳食指南推广、认知、认可和使用背后的因素可能会促进对这些指南的进一步优化和参与。本研究旨在评估沙特人对 My Palm 和 My Plate 膳食指南的认知度和公众参与度，以及他们对膳食指南的意识、看法和偏好。
为了比较健康食品棕榈和沙特健康餐盘膳食指南的认知度、知识和可用性，我们在 2021 年 10 月至 2022 年 1 月期间对沙特 18 岁以上的成年男性和女性进行了一项基于横断面调查的研究（n=674）。参与者根据年龄和性别分为两组。使用 t 检验和卡方检验分别比较两组之间的连续变量和分类变量。
大多数参与者不了解健康食品棕榈和沙特健康餐盘指南，只有 11.1%和 30.3%的人分别能够识别出与指南相关的视觉插图。然而，近一半的参与者正确地识别了健康食品棕榈和沙特健康餐盘的食物组数量。此外，超过一半的样本更喜欢沙特健康餐盘，而四分之一的样本既不喜欢健康食品棕榈，也不喜欢沙特健康餐盘。在未来的公共卫生推广方面，参与者认为“方便和可获得性”（29.6%）和“我自己的健康”（28.6%）是影响饮食选择的最重要因素，而“社交媒体活动”（2.4%）和“有影响力的人的参与”（3.1%）则是影响最小的因素。
膳食指南的实施和公众认知度都不理想，有机会进一步扩大信息传播和公众参与度。测量和持续评估公众对膳食指南的认知度和使用情况，以及更深入地了解饮食选择的影响因素和行为，是膳食指南制定和推广的重要考虑因素。
