Nutrition Professionals’ Knowledge, Consumption and Recommendations of Whole Grains

Presenter Information

Krystal Walker
Tamara Marsh
Cristina Reyes Gonzalez
Kelly Toups

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Kristen Hicks-Roof, Dr. Jasper Xu, Dr. Hanadi Hamadi

Faculty Sponsor College

Brooks College of Health

Faculty Sponsor Department

Nutrition & Dietetics

Location

SOARS Virtual Conference

Presentation Website

https://unfsoars.domains.unf.edu/2021/posters/nutrition-professionals-knowledge-consumption-and-recommendations-of-whole-grains/

Keywords

SOARS (Conference) (2021 : University of North Florida) – Archives; SOARS (Conference) (2021 : University of North Florida) – Posters; University of North Florida -- Students -- Research – Posters; University of North Florida. Office of Undergraduate Research; University of North Florida. Graduate School; College students – Research -- Florida – Jacksonville – Posters; University of North Florida – Undergraduates -- Research – Posters; University of North Florida. Department of Nutrition & Dietetics -- Research – Posters; University of North Florida. Department of Health Administration -- Research – Posters; Project of Merit Award Winner

Abstract

Project of Merit Winner

Research outcome: To determine the relationship between nutrition professionals’ knowledge, consumption, and recommendations of whole grains. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with nutrition professionals (n=480). Participants were recruited via email and social media from October 2020-February 2021. The participants completed a validated 21-question survey about whole grain knowledge, consumption, and recommendations. Analysis: The analyses included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation tests. Results: Survey respondents included 72.5% Registered Dietitians Nutritionists (RD/RDN) and 27.5% RD in training (e.g. dietetic intern, student). Nutrition professionals felt whole grains were important in their own diet (93%) and their patient/clients’ diet (75%). A slight majority of nutrition professionals (58%) strongly or somewhat agreed that “personal grain preference influences the grains that you recommend to patients/clients”, despite 67% agreeing to the statement, “client income/background influences the types of grains you recommend to patients/clients.” Nutrition professionals correctly classified 14.9±3.2 of the 23 food classification questions and 9.6±1.8 for the 11 whole grain knowledge statements. Nutrition professionals with direct patient care (n=373) have personally consumed 15.9±3.74 different grains and recommended 9±4.15, the correlation being r=0.29, indicating a significant positive correlation. Conclusions: Nutrition professionals were able to identify whole grain foods and demonstrated knowledge of whole grain benefits; however, there was a disconnect between knowledge and recommendations. Future research should further investigate nutrition professionals’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards whole grains. To align nutrition professionals’ whole grain knowledge and recommendation practices, there is a need for enhanced training and education on whole grain varieties.

Comments

Audio Presentation Transcript:

Krystal Walker: Hello all welcome to our poster titled “Nutrition Professionals
Knowledge, Consumption, and Recommendations of Whole Grains” I am Krystal
Walker

Tamara Marsh: I am Tamara Marsh.

Cristina Reyes: And I am Cristina Reyes Gonzales.
Krystal Walker: And I’m going to be starting on our backgrounds. 98% of
Americans do not meet whole grain recommendations. Whole grain being those
with the bran, germ, and endosperm. Though our Registered Dietitians are trained
on evidence-based practices, allowing them to promote whole grains and use it in
nutrition education.

Cristina Reyes: I’m going to discuss the methods section which you see in the
middle of our poster. For this research study, a cross sectional study was
conducted. Our participants were nutrition professionals and were recruited via
email and social media platforms from December 2020 to February 2021. And the
data on whole grain knowledge, consumption, and recommendations were
obtained using a 21-question validated survey.

Krystal Walker: As you can see, on the top right of our poster we have the results
were most nutrition professionals, were able to correctly identify the true and false
statement when it came to whole grains. Below that the Left pie chart shows that
72.5% of our respondents were Registered Dietitians and the other 27.5% were
Registered Dietitians in training.

Tamara Marsh: We concluded nutrition professionals there’s a disconnect
between nutrition professionals, knowledge, and recommendation. And we
recommend improved training and education on whole grain varieties to align
nutrition professionals whole grain knowledge and recommendation practices. If
you have any questions feel free to contact hicks.roof@unf.edu and thank you so
much for visiting our presentation!

Rights Statement

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