Consumer perception and use of iron fortified foods is associated with their knowledge and understanding of nutritional issues

Aim: We hypothesised that consumer perception on iron fortified foods and consequent introduction of such products to their diets may depend on their knowledge and understanding on nutritional issues, particularly in relation to iron. Methods: 500 men and women (age 30 +/- 12 years) from Athens, Xylokastro, in South Greece and Lamia, in Central Greece participated to the study. Participants were asked about their knowledge in nutritional issues using 28 true/false/do not know questions. These overall nutrition knowledge questions were grouped as general nutrition knowledge and iron nutrition knowledge questions. Answers scored 1, -1 or 0 when correct, wrong or do not know respectively. Thus, three different scores were produced, specifically the overall nutrition knowledge score, ranging from -28 to 28 and from this, the general nutrition knowledge score, ranging from -10 to 10, and the iron nutrition knowledge score, ranging from -18 to 18. Perception and consumption of iron fortified products were evaluated and associated with the scores. Results: Unadjusted logistic regression analysis revealed that one point increase of overall nutrition knowledge score was associated with 4.3% higher likelihood that the consumer believes that iron fortified foods have a positive role in diet (OR = 1.043, 90% CI 1.040-1.080). One point increase of iron nutrition knowledge score was associated with 20% higher likelihood of consuming iron fortified foods more often (OR = 1.200, 90% CI 1.074-1.340). Conclusions: Consumer perception on iron fortified foods seems to be associated with nutrition knowledge and highlight the importance of focused nutrition education in consumer informed choices. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.