Women's self-concept of and real knowledge about nutrition: A cross-sectional study

Lifestyle in Western countries has significantly changed during recent decades. These and other factors have increased the prevalence of overweight and obesity, leading to a higher risk of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. A balanced diet has been shown to predict better health, so several public healthcare strategies aim to encourage "healthy" food choices.

To assess self-concept of knowledge about nutrition compared to factual knowledge and knowledge implementation in daily life.

Cross-sectional cohort study with a total of 524 Swiss women recruited, of which 447 women met the inclusion criteria for the final analysis.

Main outcome measure: a self-constructed questionnaire was used to evaluate subjective and objective knowledge about healthy nutrition and its practical application. Subgroup analyses utilized Fisher's test for categorical and Mann-Whitney-U test for metric/ordinal.

Most participants sourced their nutritional information predominantly from nonexperts. While the majority believed they were well-educated about nutrition, this self-assessment was only partially accurate. The "nutrition pyramid" concept was widely recognized, and correct assignment of food items to dominant macronutrient components was generally accurate. However, understanding of food category ranking by optimal daily intake and composing a healthy diet was lacking. Higher education levels correlated with better objective nutrition knowledge (p < 0.001), and normal-weight women were more likely than overweight/obese women to implement nutritional knowledge daily (p = 0.021). Apart from body mass index other bio-psycho-social factors were observed.

Recent insights show that although women perceive themselves as knowledgeable about nutrition, there are significant gaps in their objective understanding. Higher education levels improve nutritional knowledge, and normal-weight women apply this knowledge more effectively. Thus, providing accessible, high-quality expert information on nutrition is essential.

The study has been approved by the Cantonal Ethics Committee (registration number: 2018-00358).