Research Article, J Womens Health Issues Care Vol: 5 Issue: 2
Healthy Eating Attitude: A mediator of Nutrition Knowledge and Diet Quality Using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 in Young Women
| Tamara Tabbakh and Jeanne Freeland-Graves* | |
| University of Texas at Arlington, School of Social Work, 211 S. Cooper Street, Arlington, Texas, USA | |
| Corresponding author : Jeanne H Freeland-Graves, PhD, RD, FACN Bess Heflin Centennial Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, 103 W. 24th St., PAI 4.44, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA, Tel: 512 471 0657; Fax: 512 471 5844; E-mail: jfg@mail.utexas.edu |
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| Received: September 11, 2015 Accepted: March 11, 2016 Published: March 16, 2016 | |
| Citation: Tabbakh T, Freeland-Graves J (2016) Healthy Eating Attitude: A mediator of Nutrition Knowledge and Diet Quality Using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 in Young Women. J Womens Health, Issues Care 5:2. doi:10.4172/2324-8793.1000116 |
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the impact of nutrition knowledge and psychological determinants of eating behavior (healthy eating attitude, self-efficacy, emotional eating, fat habits, and mindless eating) on diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 in young women.
Methods: In this cross-sectional design, 114 college women completed a 3-day food record, nutrition knowledge scale, and questionnaire measuring psychological determinants of eating behavior (healthy eating attitude, self-efficacy, emotional eating, fat habits, and mindless eating). Regression analysis was utilized to discern the influence of nutrition knowledge and psychological determinants of eating behavior on diet quality. A mediation model was conducted to further explore relationships between variables.
Results: Mean percent maximum score for diet quality was 59.6%. Nutrition knowledge (p<0.05), healthy eating attitude (p<0.01), and favorable fat habits (p<0.01) were positively associated with diet quality. Healthy eating attitude emerged as a partial mediator of nutrition knowledge on diet quality (β=0.72, CI: 0.3-1.4), resulting in a 34% reduction in the model.
Conclusions and Implications: Diet quality in this sample is less than ideal. Nutrition knowledge was a key predictor of this outcome, via enhancement of attitudes toward healthy eating.
