Browsing by Author "Rantamoijanen, Antti"

The release of Finnish nutrition recommendations in 2014 has caused a lot of debate both in public discourse and in various medias. The debate around food and nutrition reflects into people's attitudes and is therefore relevant issue to be discussed in the field of home economics science. The purpose of nutrition education in schools is, among other things, to share knowledge from different view-points of nutrition. How adolescents experience the discourse of nutrition and the status of home economics in nutritional education are vital topics in the field of home economics. The purpose of this thesis is to examine upper secondary school students' and nutrition experts' viewpoints on the Finnish nutrition discourse. The empirical analysis of the study is based on two sets of data: 37 essays of nutrition written by students and five theme interviews conducted with nutrition experts. The purpose of the essays and the interviews was to map out the responders' experiences of and viewpoints on the Finnish discourse regarding nutritional knowledge. I also wanted to examine the experts' images over the status of home economics education in nutrition education. The data were analyzed by qualitative research content analysis. The results show that both students and nutrition experts comprehend the nutrition discourse as a highly tensed phenomenon, where both experimental and scientific based knowledge argue. This perception endorses previous research results. The students acknowledge science as the basis of nutrition knowledge but still consider that experimental expertise is needed to adapt nutrition knowledge into action. The nutrition experts call for more critical thinking into nutrition education. Culture related to food education in schools should also be more coherent. The experts consider that the teaching of home economics has a small but still visible status on contributing the healthy diet of adolescents.