Nutrition knowledge scores affected dietary behavior and food choice among SMESY program participants in Korea (626.7)

The Seoul Metabolic Syndrome Management (SMESY) project, a lifestyle intervention program, was officially implemented across Seoul, Korea from March 2011. Primary purposes of SMESY project are to decrease the risk of metabolic syndrome, thus to build up the wide-scale prevention strategy. We performed face-to-face surveys to the 187 visitors who participated in SMESY program in local public health centers in Seoul. We tested the nutrition knowledge levels using seven yes or no questions regarding metabolic syndrome and diet. In addition, the subjects self-assessed the willingness to refrain from high-calorie, high-carbohydrate, and high-fat foods intake. We also applied the Food Choice Questionnaire to examine the relations between nutrition knowledge scores and motives of food choice. The subjects whose nutrition knowledge scores were high showed significantly stronger willingness to self-control the high-fat food intake (Pearson’s r=0.228, p=0.002). In addition, the subjects who got the higher nutrition...