Relation of Dietary Fat Intake Perception to Nutritional Status and Psychosocial Factors
- Author:
Yong HY
;
Zalilah MS
;
Yap LD
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Dietary fat intake perception, nutritional status, psychosocial factors
- From:
Malaysian Journal of Nutrition
2009;15(2):195-204
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Excess dietary fat intake is associated with many chronic diseases. This crosssectional
study determines the differences in nutritional status and diet-related psychosocial factors by accuracy levels of dietary fat intake perceptions among
adults. A total of 202 Universiti Putra Malaysia staff (20-55 years old) volunteered
to participate in the study. Dietary fat accuracy levels (under-estimate, accurate
and over-estimate) were determined by assessing actual fat intake through 24-hour diet recall and self-rated fat intake. Diet-related psychosocial factors assessed
were perceived risks, intention to change, outcome expectancies and perceived
barriers. About half (49.5%) of the respondents were classified as accurate
estimators, while 35.6% and 14.9% were under-estimators and over-estimators,
respectively. Dietary fat intake differed significantly between the dietary fat accuracy groups with under-estimators having the highest amount of dietary fat
intake (F=17.10; p<0.001) and percentage of fat calories (F=103.99 + 0.533%, p<0.001). Over-estimators had the highest mean BMI (F=3.11, p<0.05) compared
to other groups. Among the fat accuracy groups, under-estimators reported the
least barriers to eating low fat foods (F= 3.671, p<0.05). There were no significant
differences in waist circumference, energy intake, perceived disease risks,
intention to change and outcome expectancies among the dietary fat accuracy
groups. These findings suggest that inaccurate perceptions of dietary fat intake
should not be overlooked as one of the cognitive barriers to dietary change and
factors that influence nutritional status among adults.
- Full text:W020150713327893610769.pdf
