Abstract
Scant evidence is available on the relationship between preferences for organic, local,
sustainable, and nonprocessed foods (ie, alternative food production practices) and
dietary quality. This cross-sectional study examined the characteristics and dietary
behaviors (eg, consumption of fruits, vegetables, fast food) of young adults who reported
placing low, moderate, or high importance on alternative food production practices.
A diverse sample of 1,201 students at a 2-year community college and a 4-year public
university in the Twin Cities, MN, completed the Student Health and Wellness Study
survey in spring 2010. χ2 tests examined differences in attitudes across demographic characteristics. Linear
regression adjusted dietary intake across attitudes. About half (49%) of young adults
placed moderate to high importance on alternative production practices, and few demographic
differences across attitudes were found. Young adults who placed high importance on
alternative production practices consumed 1.3 more servings of fruits and vegetables
(P<0.001), more dietary fiber (P<0.001), fewer added sugars (P<0.001), fewer sugar-sweetened beverages (P=0.001), and less fat (P=0.025) than those who placed low importance on these practices. Young adults who
placed high importance on alternative food production practices also consumed breakfast
approximately 1 more day per week and fast food half as often as those who placed
low importance on these practices (P<0.001). Study findings suggest that nutrition messaging around social and environmental
implications of food production practices may be well received by this age group.
Experimental studies are needed to investigate whether attitudes toward alternative
production practices can be manipulated to improve dietary quality.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Marketing US organic foods: Recent trends from farms to consumers.Econ Inform Bull. 2009; 58
- Organic Industry Survey.(2011) (Accessed August 9, 2012)
- 2011 National farmer's market directory.(Updated 2011. Accessed November 22, 2011)
- Organic industry survey.(2010) (Accessed August 9, 2012)
- Buying into the food system: Trends in food retailing in the US and implications for local foods.Agric Human Values. 2002; 19: 39-51
- What does ‘local’ mean in the grocery store?.Renew Agric Food Syst. 2011; 26: 46-59
- Gender and food, a study of attitudes in the USA towards organic, local, US grown, and GM-free foods.Appetite. 2010; 55: 540-550
- Adolescents' perspectives and food choice behaviors in terms of the environmental impacts of food production practices: Application of a psychosocial model.J Nutr Educ. 2001; 33: 72-82
- Consumers' preferences for locally produced food: A study in southeast Missouri.Am J Altern Agric. 2003; 18: 213-224
- Organic foods: Do eco-friendly attitudes predict eco-friendly behaviors?.J Am Coll Health. 2009; 58: 195-202
- Who's buying organic vegetables?.J Food Products Market. 2009; 16: 79-91
- A survey of food system knowledge, attitudes, and experiences among high school students.J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2006; 1: 59-82
- Assessing consumer preferences for organic, eco-labeled, and regular apples.J Agric Resour Econ. 2001; 26: 404-416
- Lifestyle segmentation of US food shoppers to examine organic and local food consumption.Appetite. 2011; 57: 28-37
- Psychosocial and demographic variables associated with consumer intention to purchase sustainably produced foods as defined by the Midwest food alliance.J Nutr Educ Behav. 2002; 34: 316-325
- University student perceptions of seasonal and local foods.J Nutr Educ. 2000; 32: 261-268
- Characteristics of organic food shoppers.J Agric Appl Econ. 2007; 39: 17-28
- The emergence and framing of farm-to-school initiatives: Civic engagement, health and local agriculture.Agric Human Values. 2009; 26: 107-119
- The practice and politics of food system localization.J Rural Stud. 2003; 19: 33-45
- The organic label: How to reconcile its meaning with consumer preferences.J Food Distrib Res. 2004; 35: 40-43
- Commodity agriculture, civic agriculture and the future of US farming.Rural Sociol. 2004; 69: 370-385
- Characteristics and dietary patterns of adolescents who value eating locally grown, organic, nongenetically engineered, and nonprocessed food.J Nutr Educ Behav. 2009; 41: 11-18
- Who are organic food consumers?.J Consum Behav. 2007; 6: 94-110
- Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community.Tufts University Press, Medford, MA2004
- Effects of a college course about food and society on students' eating behaviors.Am J Prev Med. 2010; 38: 543-547
- Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Integrated Behavioral Model.in: Glanz K. Rimer B.K. Viswanath K. Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research, and Practice. 4th ed. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA2008: 67-96
- Situational characteristics of young adults' eating occasions: A real-time data collection using personal digital assistants.Public Health Nutr. 2011; 14: 472-479
- Young adult eating and food-purchasing patterns food store location and residential proximity.Am J Prev Med. 2010; 39: 464-467
- Socioeconomic disparities in emerging adult weight and weight behaviors.Am J Health Behav. 2012; 36: 433-445
- Short dietary assessment instruments.(Accessed August 10, 2011)
- Nutrition label use partially mediates the relationship between attitude toward healthy eating and overall dietary quality among college students.J Am Diet Assoc. 2012; 112: 414-418
- Evaluation of a short dietary assessment instrument for percentage energy from fat in an intervention study.J Nutr. 2008; 138: 193S-199S
- Meal and snack patterns are associated with dietary intake of energy and nutrients in US adults.J Am Diet Assoc. 2006; 106: 46-53
- Fast food restaurant use among adolescents: Associations with nutrient intake, food choices and behavioral and psychosocial variables.Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001; 25: 1823-1833
- Socio-environmental, personal and behavioural predictors of fast-food intake among adolescents.Public Health Nutr. 2009; 12: 1767-1774
- Fast food intake among adolescents: Secular and longitudinal trends from 1999 to 2004.Prev Med. 2009; 48: 284-287
- Development and evaluation of a brief screener to estimate fast-food and beverage consumption among adolescents.J Am Diet Assoc. 2009; 109: 730-734
- Adolescent vegetarians: How well do their dietary patterns meet the Healthy People 2010 objectives?.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002; 156: 431-437
- Most Americans eat much less than recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.J Am Diet Assoc. 2006; 106: 1371-1379
- Fast-food consumption among US adults and children: Dietary and nutrient intake profile.J Am Diet Assoc. 2003; 103: 1332-1338
- Changes in beverage intake between 1977 and 2001.Am J Prev Med. 2004; 27: 205-210
- Save the world, prevent obesity: Piggybacking on existing social and ideological movements.Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010; 18: S17-S22
Biography
J. E. Pelletier is a research assistant, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis.
Biography
M. N. Laska is an associate professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis.
Biography
D. Neumark-Sztainer is a professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis.
Biography
M. Story is a professor and associate dean, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 20, 2012
Accepted:
August 13,
2012
Footnotes
FUNDING/SUPPORT This work was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI Grant 1 U54CA116849; K07CA126837) and the American Heart Association (Midwest Affiliate Office, Grant 2261399). The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association.
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
