Knowledge, opinions and expectations of adults concerning personalised genotype-based dietary recommendations: a German survey

Objective: To assess the knowledge, opinions and expectations of persons with and without obesity concerning personalised genotype-based nutrition. Design: Questions about nutrition, weight management and personalised genotype-based dietary recommendations were asked via standardised telephone-based interviews. Sociodemographic and anthropometric data were collected. The data were statistically weighted by age, gender, education, domicile and BMI. Setting: Germany. Participants: Representative sample of the German population (n 1003) randomly sampled via a scientific Random Digit dial method plus 354 adults with a BMI >= 30 center dot 0 kg/m(2) to enlarge the sample. Results: Data of 1357 participants were analysed (51 center dot 1 % female, age: 50 center dot 5 +/- 18 center dot 5 years, 15 center dot 9 % adults with a BMI >= 30 center dot 0 kg/m(2)). About 42 % or 19 % of the survey participants stated to know the terms personalised dietary recommendation or genotype-based dietary recommendation, respectively. Of those, 15 center dot 8 % indicated to have an experience with a personalised or genotype-based dietary recommendation. Almost 70 % of the survey participants believed that a genotype-based dietary recommendation is a reasonable measure for weight management. About 55 % of the survey participants pointed out that a genotype-based dietary recommendation is an effective concept in general. One-third of the survey participants (34 center dot 6 %) indicated to conceive the usage of a genotype-based dietary recommendation. Conclusion: Most of the survey participants did not know the term personalised or genotype-based dietary recommendation. One-third of the study participants are interested to use a genotype-based dietary recommendation. Therefore, more education of the public is necessary to properly help people making informed and serious decisions and assessing commercially available direct-to-consumer genetic tests.

Automated summary

The study revealed that the majority of participants were unfamiliar with the terms of personalised or genotype-based dietary recommendation, but a third of them showed interest in utilizing genotype-based dietary recommendations.