A risk-reduction nutrition course for adults

This article details the development, delivery, and evaluation of a six-session nutrition course entitled "Eating Today for a Healthier Tomorrow." The course addressed nutrition practices associated with the reduction of risk for coronary heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and obesity. Teaching teams, consisting of an extension agent and a registered dietitian, were used in course delivery. A wide variety of printed and audiovisual teaching aids helped participants learn through discussion, goal setting, games, and food tasting. Evaluation components of the course included demographic and pre- and post-course food frequency information as well as an overall evaluation by each participant. Post-course evaluation data were collected at a reunion session held 2 months after course completion. One hundred forty-two of 195 participants (73%) completed the course and the evaluation. Three-fourths of the participants had a family history of at least one of the life-style diseases addressed by the course. The food frequency results indicated that participants made some significant changes in their food practices. They decreased the number of times they selected high-fat cheese, regular red meats, foods from the saturated fatty acid group, desserts, sodium-rich products, and tea/coffee (p less than .05), and they increased selection of low-fat dairy products (p less than .05). Further study is recommended to determine whether individuals maintain the dietary changes and how those changes affect others in the person's immediate environment.