Nutrition knowledge assessment studies in adults: a systematic review

The objective of this study is to perform a systematic review of published studies that assessed nutrition knowledge in adults, focusing on the methodology and content of these studies. An article search was performed on the Medline, Lilacs, and SciELO databases. The search limits were human studies; English, Portuguese, and Spanish languages; and age (over 19). Inclusion criteria were: cross-sectional studies performed on individuals over 18 years old that assessed the general nutrition knowledge of participants. The methodological quality of the articles was assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) criteria. The initial search identified 3,623 articles. After reading the titles and the abstracts and applying the exclusion criteria, 25 articles were selected. The results showed that, in most studies, nutrition knowledge was associated with socioeconomic parameters and eating behaviour. Most studies belonged to class B (92%), meeting 50-80% of the STROBE criteria. The studies have revealed a greater tendency to assess the relationship of nutrition knowledge with sociodemographic and economic parameters.