Nutrition Literacy and Healthy Diet: Findings from the Validation of a Short Seniors-Oriented Screening Tool, the Spanish Myths-NL

Development of a Brief Assessment Tool to Evaluate Early Low Nutrition Risk in Community Elderly. Creation of the tool and examination of its reliability and criterion-related validity

BACKGROUND

To date simple assessment tool to evaluate early low nutrition risk in general older population has not been available. This study aimed to create such tool and examined its reliability and criterion-related validity.

METHODS

1,192 community elderly with a mean age of 74.7(5.8) years responded to a questionnaire consisting of 48 (Hatoyama) or 34 items (Kusatsu), which have been reported to be associated with nutritional state in older people. Item analysis was conducted on the 34 common items, and items were selected based on the following criteria: adequate pass rates and discriminative power, no gender and regional differences, and a certain level of commonality based on factor analysis. Next, the factor structure of the candidate items was examined through exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted as the final scale structure. Furthermore, Spearman's partial rank correlation coefficients (sex- and age-adjusted) between the created index and important health indicators were examined to determine the criterion-related validity.

RESULTS

Finally, we obtained a semantic coherence of 4 factors (named health beliefs, dietary status, physical activity, and food-related quality of life) totaling 13 items; confirmatory factor analysis of the 4-factor solution yielded good model fit values, χ2 (59) =275.4 (p<0.001), CFI=0.930, and RMSEA=0.056. The factor loadings for each factor ranged from 0.43 to 0.82, indicating adequate loadings. The reliability of the index was shown to be high by Good-Poor analysis and Cronbach's α. The index showed statistically significant correlations with all health indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

We have developed a simple assessment tool to evaluate early low nutrition risk in general older population.

A cross-sectional study on the moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between sociodemographic variables and nutrition literacy among older adults in rural areas of North Sichuan

Objective

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of self-efficacy among rural elderly individuals in northern Sichuan Province in the relationship between certain sociodemographic variables and nutritional literacy.

Methods

Convenience sampling was used to select 264 elderly individuals aged 60 and above from rural communities in Cangxi County, Guangyuan City, Yilong County, Nanchong City, and Bazhou District, Bazhong City, Sichuan Province. A self-designed questionnaire, including sociodemographic variables, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and the Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for the Elderly (NLQ-E), was administered through face-to-face interviews using a paper-based version. The relationships between sociodemographic variables, self-efficacy, and nutritional literacy in the elderly were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and the Process plugin to examine the relationships between variables and to test for moderation effects.

Results

(1) There were significant differences in nutrition literacy scores among elderly people of different ages, genders, marital statuses, educational levels, personal monthly living expenses, dental conditions, and number of chronic diseases (p < 0.05). (2) When elderly individuals have lower self-efficacy, their nutritional literacy is lower as they become older, and they have poorer nutritional literacy with a higher number of chronic diseases.

Conclusion

General population demographic data has a significant impact on the nutritional literacy level of elderly people in rural areas of northern Sichuan. Self-efficacy plays a moderating role in the relationship between age and nutritional literacy, as well as the relationship between the number of chronic diseases and nutritional literacy.

How to Measure Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet in Dental Studies: Is a Short Adherence Screener Enough? A Comparative Analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) in a study investigating the anti-inflammatory effect of a 6-week Mediterranean diet intervention on periodontal parameters. Data from a randomized clinical trial were analyzed for correlations between the MEDAS score and oral inflammatory parameters (bleeding on probing (BOP), gingival index (GI), and periodontal inflamed surface area (PISA)) and select nutrient intakes estimated by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a 24-h dietary recall (24dr). A mixed model, calculations of Spearman ρ, Lin’s Concordance Coefficient (CC), and Mann–Whitney U test were used for the statistical analyses. The MEDAS score was significantly negatively correlated with periodontal inflammation (BOP: CoE −0.391, p < 0.001; GI −0.407, p < 0.001; PISA −0.348, p = 0.001) and positively correlated with poly unsaturated fatty acids/total fat, vitamin C, and fiber intake estimates obtained from the FFQ and 24dr (ρ 0.38–0.77). The FFQ and 24dr produced heterogeneously comparable intake results for most nutrients (CC 0–0.79, Spearman ρ 0.16–0.65). Within the limitations of this study, the MEDAS was able to indicate nutritional habits associated with different levels of periodontal inflammation. Accordingly, the MEDAS can be a sufficient and useful diet screener in dental studies. Due to its correlation with oral inflammatory parameters, the MEDAS might also be useful in dental practice.