Healthy Eating Attitude: A mediator of Nutrition Knowledge and Diet Quality Using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 in Young Women

Objective: To investigate the impact of nutrition knowledge and psychological determinants of eating behavior (healthy eating attitude, self-efficacy, emotional eating, fat habits, and mindless eating) on diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 in young women. Methods: In this cross-sectional design, 114 college women completed a 3-day food record, nutrition knowledge scale, and questionnaire measuring psychological determinants of eating behavior (healthy eating attitude, self-efficacy, emotional eating, fat habits, and mindless eating). Regression analysis was utilized to discern the influence of nutrition knowledge and psychological determinants of eating behavior on diet quality. A mediation model was conducted to further explore relationships between variables. Results: Mean percent maximum score for diet quality was 59.6%. Nutrition knowledge (p<0.05), healthy eating attitude (p<0.01), and favorable fat habits (p<0.01) were positively associated with diet quality. Healthy eating attitude emerged as a partial mediator of nutrition knowledge on diet quality (β=0.72, CI: 0.3-1.4), resulting in a 34% reduction in the model. Conclusions and Implications: Diet quality in this sample is less than ideal. Nutrition knowledge was a key predictor of this outcome, via enhancement of attitudes toward healthy eating.