Dairy nutrition educational messages help increase dairy product knowledge, purchasing, and consumption

The objectives of this research were to educate those who consume an inadequate amount of dairy (less than 3 servings of dairy per day) about various topics related to dairy nutrition, test retention of information, and motivate purchasing and consumption of dairy products. Twenty-four nominal focus group (NFG) sessions were conducted (Ames, IA: April 2021, 10, n = 94; Manhattan, KS: 6 in July 2021 and 8 in October 2021, n = 101). The NFG were randomly assigned into control or treatment groups. The control only received a nutrition facts panel (NFP) label lesson. Treatment groups received the NFP label lesson, plus one of 3 different educational messages (EM; lactose maldigestion, 9 essential nutrients, and prebiotics and probiotics). Identical scripts were followed, except for the EM and infographics. Participants completed surveys at the beginning (pre-survey) and end (post-survey) of the NFG, and 1 mo later (follow-up). A total of 195 participants completed the NFG and pre- and post-surveys; 185 of those completed the follow-up survey. Nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were run to determine if individuals learned and retained information and if they changed purchasing or consumption. Participants learned about dairy nutrition topics (validated by correct responses in survey questions) and increased their consumption and purchasing of cheese, ice cream, milk, and yogurt by at least 20% after participating in an NFG. Consumption did not increase enough for those who consume an inadequate amount of dairy to meet the recommended 21 servings of dairy per week. Adjustments to the EM and infographics may improve learning, knowledge retention, and more meaningfully increase dairy purchasing and consumption.