Nutrition Knowledge Varies by Food Group and Nutrient Among Adults

The United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have provided recommendations for healthy eating patterns to meet nutrient needs and reduce chronic disease risk for decades. However, few Americans fully meet these guidelines, especially regarding five shortfall nutrients, and the vegetable, fruit, pulse, whole grain, and dairy food groups. Nutrition knowledge is a modifiable factor associated with improved dietary behavior, yet it is unclear whether individuals with nutrition-related chronic diseases possess greater knowledge. The study objectives were to (1) describe knowledge of 10 nutrient sources across six food groups, and (2) determine predictive factors for nutrient source and food group knowledge. A national sample of 930 adults from an online panel answered demographic, nutrition-disease knowledge, desired benefits from foods, chronic disease status questions, and identified the presence or absence of 10 nutrients in six food groups. Respondents were 77% White, 51% women, and 70% married, with a mean age of 45 years. Nutrition-disease knowledge was higher for those who were older, women, and highly educated. Having a nutrition-related disease, e.g., heart disease, was not predictive of nutrient-disease knowledge. Whole grains had the highest average nutrient knowledge score (6.26 ± 2.5; range 0-10), while vegetables had the lowest (4.89 ± 2.3). Fat food sources were the best known (3.98 ± 1.5; range 0-6), and folate was the least recognized (2.16 ± 1.4). General linear models of survey variables for the six food groups explained 10.2% to 19.4% of nutrient knowledge variation and described 4.7% to 27.1% of differences in food-source scores for the 10 nutrients. Nutrient-disease knowledge had the most significant influence on nutrient source scores. Gaps in understanding nutrient sources suggest the public needs more applied education.