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Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand

Despite their nutritional value, population-level nut consumption remains low. Studies suggest that individuals would eat more nuts on their doctor’s advice, making health professionals potentially important for promoting nut consumption. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the perceptions a...

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Autores principales: Brown, Rachel C., Yong, Lee Ching, Gray, Andrew R., Tey, Siew Ling, Chisholm, Alexandra, Leong, Sook Ling
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28257045
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9030220
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author Brown, Rachel C.
Yong, Lee Ching
Gray, Andrew R.
Tey, Siew Ling
Chisholm, Alexandra
Leong, Sook Ling
author_facet Brown, Rachel C.
Yong, Lee Ching
Gray, Andrew R.
Tey, Siew Ling
Chisholm, Alexandra
Leong, Sook Ling
author_sort Brown, Rachel C.
collection PubMed
description Despite their nutritional value, population-level nut consumption remains low. Studies suggest that individuals would eat more nuts on their doctor’s advice, making health professionals potentially important for promoting nut consumption. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the perceptions and knowledge of nuts and the predictors of nut promotion among health professionals in New Zealand. Dietitians, general practitioners (GPs), and practice nurses were identified from the Electoral Roll and invited to complete a questionnaire (n = 318, 292, and 149 respondents respectively). Over one-fifth of GPs and practice nurses believed that eating nuts could increase blood cholesterol concentrations and cause weight gain. The most common perceptions overall were that nuts are healthy; high in protein, fat, and calories; and are satiating. Nut consumption was recommended for reasons relating to these perceptions and because of nuts’ selenium content. Conversely, reasons for suggesting the consumption of fewer nuts included that they were high in calories and fat, would cause weight gain, and concerns regarding allergies and cost. All groups of health professionals were more likely to promote nut consumption if they perceived nuts to reduce the risk of diabetes (all p ≤ 0.034). Education could improve health professionals’ knowledge regarding the effects of nut consumption on blood cholesterol and body weight, alongside other health benefits, which should improve the advice given to patients and may thereby increase nut consumption.
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spelling pubmed-53728832017-04-05 Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand Brown, Rachel C. Yong, Lee Ching Gray, Andrew R. Tey, Siew Ling Chisholm, Alexandra Leong, Sook Ling Nutrients Article Despite their nutritional value, population-level nut consumption remains low. Studies suggest that individuals would eat more nuts on their doctor’s advice, making health professionals potentially important for promoting nut consumption. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the perceptions and knowledge of nuts and the predictors of nut promotion among health professionals in New Zealand. Dietitians, general practitioners (GPs), and practice nurses were identified from the Electoral Roll and invited to complete a questionnaire (n = 318, 292, and 149 respondents respectively). Over one-fifth of GPs and practice nurses believed that eating nuts could increase blood cholesterol concentrations and cause weight gain. The most common perceptions overall were that nuts are healthy; high in protein, fat, and calories; and are satiating. Nut consumption was recommended for reasons relating to these perceptions and because of nuts’ selenium content. Conversely, reasons for suggesting the consumption of fewer nuts included that they were high in calories and fat, would cause weight gain, and concerns regarding allergies and cost. All groups of health professionals were more likely to promote nut consumption if they perceived nuts to reduce the risk of diabetes (all p ≤ 0.034). Education could improve health professionals’ knowledge regarding the effects of nut consumption on blood cholesterol and body weight, alongside other health benefits, which should improve the advice given to patients and may thereby increase nut consumption. MDPI 2017-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5372883/ /pubmed/28257045 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9030220 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Brown, Rachel C.
Yong, Lee Ching
Gray, Andrew R.
Tey, Siew Ling
Chisholm, Alexandra
Leong, Sook Ling
Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title_full Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title_fullStr Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title_short Perceptions and Knowledge of Nuts amongst Health Professionals in New Zealand
title_sort perceptions and knowledge of nuts amongst health professionals in new zealand
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372883/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28257045
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu9030220
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