9 / 9
Notes:
conferenceseries LLC Ltd
Page 40
Volume 8
Oct 25-26, 2018 Budapest, Hungary
21
st
World Obesity Conference
World Obesity-2018
Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy | ISSN : 2165-7904
An insight of Europeans’ knowledge about dietary fibers in relationship
with obesity
Objectives:
The objective of the study is to estimate the relationship between socio-
demographic characteristics of Romanian population, and their knowledge towards dietary
fibre intake, the information sources preferred and perception of obesity related health
risks.
Methods:
We used a convenient cross-sectional survey, and the data were collected using
a validated questionnaire, disseminated online. Six different Romanian counties with 57
cities were selected in 2016, with 670 participants, and we used the SPSS program 22.0 for
statistical purpose. The same questionnaire was applied in other seven European countries,
as part of an international project design.
Results:
The knowledge about dietary fibres intake was low in Romanian sample, also
was the ingestion of foods rich in fibre (fruits, vegetables and cereals). Compared to men,
women agree significantly more frequent that fibres in appropriate amounts can prevent
or treat diseases (U=44607, z=-4.66, p<0.001, r=0.18) and separately related to specific
diseases, that fibres can prevent and/or treat cardio-vascular diseases, cholesterol, bowel
cancer, breast cancer, constipation, and diabetes, but with no differences regarding the
deficiency of vitamins and minerals (p=0.774) or obesity (p=0.399). Regarding the
differences observed by countries, the highest fruit consumption was found for Portugal
(11.7 portions per week), while the lowest was for Hungary (7.4) and Latvia (7.1). Turkey,
that had the highest interest for food labelling (4.0 points), contrarily to Macedonia (3.0)
with the lowest value, and Hungary with 3.6 points. The in-depth analysis of factors that
are able to influence European’s knowledge and attitudes towards food fibres, defined
the social profile of the respondents with interest on dietary fibre intake, which is: young
females, with at least high school education, that considers internet and television like
main sources of information regarding fibres.
Conclusions:
Based on our results, we can elaborate efficient community and
school intervention programs, more focused on modern information technology and
communication skills, fit to the consumer’s profile in order to promote a healthy nutrition
behavior and proper knowledge.
Biography
Monica Tarcea is the Professor in the Department of community Nutrition and Food Safety in the University
of Medicine and Pharmacy Tirgu Mures and also Hygiene Discipline (between 1994-2012). She organized
20 Post-graduate courses for Physicians, Nurses, Chemists and Biologists, regarding nutrition, food safety,
environment hazards, water and air quality, reproductive health and life style management. She is Member
of Romanian Public Health Association and EUPHA, Romanian Society of Behavioral Medicine and ISBM,
Healthy Nutrition Foundation, Romanian Nutrition and Dietetics Association (ARoND), Romanian Hygiene
Society, Romanian Society for School Physicians, also in Editorial Committee of Hygiene and Public Health
Journal and Journal of Obesity and Eating Disorders.
monica.tarcea@umftgm.roMonica Tarcea
University of Medicine and
Pharmacy Tirgu Mures, Romania
Co-Authors
Nemes L
1
, Victoria Rus
1
, Zita
Fazakas
1
, Costela Serban
2
, Viktoria
Szucs
3
and Raquel Guiné
4
1
University of Medicine and Pharmacy,
Tirgu Mures, Romania
2
University of Medicine and
Pharmacy Timisoara, Romania
3
National Agricultural Research and
Innovation Centre, Hungary
4
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal
Monica Tarcea et al., J Obes Weight Loss Ther 2018, Volume:8
DOI: 10.4172/2165-7904-C10-085