Browsing by Subject "nutrition education"

Aims. Generous supply of food has made it difficult to perform everyday food choices. There are heterogeneous food trends which may define what to eat and how the public discussion about food and nutrition is comprised. Media, parents and peers are major influences on adolescents' food choices. The taste and the familiarity of food are emphasized over healthiness of or information about food when selecting food. The aim of this study is to find out how the complexity of choosing food is manifested in perceptions of adolescent and how knowledge on nutrition is transformed into action in adolescent's lives. Furthermore, the effects of nutrition education on the quality of knowledge and action are reflected. The questions of this study are: 1. What kind of perceptions do adolescents have on food trends? 2. How is the importance of food selection related issues structured in adolescent's perceptions? 3. How the information and education on nutrition are combined in adolescent's perceptions? Methods. The qualitative data was collected by focus-group interviews from the students of optional home economics courses (N=24) in a school at Pirkanmaa, on May 2012. The data was analyzed with a qualitative method called qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. Teenagers were somewhat annoyed by food trends and worried about how these may increase incidences of anorexia nervosa. They were also hoping more criticism towards media by nutrition education. On the other hand, examples, such as adults' weight loss on low-carbohydrate diet effected positively on adolescent's perceptions of food trends. Adolescents are puzzled by the contradiction between eating habits they are taught and eating habits their parents follow. Adolescents' food choice was determined by the availability of food such as place to eat, the needs of food such as hunger/craving and the nutrition knowledge that is gained from parents, among others. Food choices are compromises between the three factors above. For example adolescents choose healthier foods at home than in restaurants, feel guilty after eating delicacies and appreciate homemade food; nutrition knowledge changes the eating behaviors of adolescents both physically, mentally and socially.