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Dietary advice
9 Grotkowski, M.L., and L.S. Sims. Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and dietary practices of the elderly. Journal ofthe American Dietetic Association 72:499-506, 1978. 10 U.S. Department of Agriculture. Homemakers' food and nutrition knowledge, practices, and opinions, by M.A. Walker and M.M. Hill. Home Economics Research Report no. 39. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975. 11 Eppright, E.S., H.M. Fox, B.A. Fryer, G.H. Lamkin, and V.M. Vivian. The north central regional study of diets of preschool children. PI. 2: Nutrition knowledge and altitudes of mothers. Journal of Home Economics 62:327-32, 1970. 12 Schwartz, N.E. Nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices of high school graduates. Journal ofthe American Dietetic Association 66:28-31, 1975. I3 Sims, L.S. Dietary status of lactating women. Pt. 2: Relation of nutritional knowledge and attitudes to nutrient intake. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 73: 147-54, 1978. 14 A.C. Nielsen Company. Nutrition . . .foodfor thought: Is the consumer getting the message? New York, 1976. 15 McNutt, K.W. Public understanding of nutrition-implications for educational programs. Contemporary Nutrition 2:1-2, 1977. 16 Norman, D.A., and D.G. Bobrow. On the role of active memory processes in perception and cognition. In The structure of human memory, C.N. Cofer, ed. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1975. 17 Gardner, M.P., A.A. Mitchell, and J.E. Russo. Chronometric analysis: An introduction and an application to low involvement perception of advertisements. In Advances in consumer research, H.K. Hunt, ed. Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1978, pp. 581-89. 18 Johnson, E.J., and J.E. Russo. The organization of product information in memory identified by recall times. In Advances in consumer research, H.K. Hunt, ed. Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for consumer research, 1978, pp. 79-86. 19 Olson, J.e., and P.A. Dover. Attitude maturation: Changes in related belief structures over time. In Advances in consumer research, H.K. Hunt, ed. Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1978, pp. 333-42. 20 Fishbein, M.A. Consideration of beliefs and their role in attitude
DIETARY
A rather curious document entitled Toward Healthful Diets has been authored by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council (A vailable from Office of Publications, National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418). The dietary recommendations put forth in the report are neither curious nor particularly controversial- select foods from four food groups, eat a wide variety of foods, strive for ideal body weight through diet and exercise, avoid low-nutrient, high-energy foods when energy requirement is low, and use salt in moderation. The bulk of the supporting text is a fairly technical discussion of scientitiic literature and some government reports about what a small role nutrition has been proved to have in the causation of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes mellitus. The messages are that there is insufficient evidence to support the recommendation of major changes in the way Americans eat; that the American way of eating is associated with a very healthy population in which most deaths due to degenerative diseases are among persons over 65 years of age; that much more basic research is needed in the area of nutriVOLUME
12
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3
1980
21 22
23
24
25
26 27 28
measurement. In Readings in attitude theory and measurement, M. Fishbein, ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Fishbein, M., and 1. Ajzen. Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley Publishing Co., 1975. Olson, J .C. Inferential belief formation in the cue utilization process. In Advances in consumer research, H.K. Hunt, ed. Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1978, pp. 706-13. Olson, J .C. Theories of information encoding and storage: Implications for consumer research. In The effect of information on consumer and market behavior, A.A. Mitchell, ed. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1978, pp. 49-60. Olson, J.C., and A. Muderrisoglu. The reliability of responses obtained by free elicitation: Implications for measuring attitude salience and memory structure. In Advances in consumer research, W.L. Wilkie, ed. Vol. 6. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1979. Tulving, E., and G.H. Bower. The logic of memory representations. In The psychology oflearning and motivation: Advances in research and theory, G.H. Bower, ed. Vol. 8. New York: Academic Press, 1974. Wyer, R.S. Cognitive organization and change: An informationprocessing approach. Potomac, Md.: Laurence Erlbaum, 1974. Buschke, H. Two dimensional recall: Immediate identification of clusters in episodic and semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 16:201-15, 1977. Kelley, G.A. The psychology ofpersonal constructs. Vols. 1 and 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1955.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Preparation of this paper was supported by the Science and Education Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Grant No. 5901-0410-8-0151-0 from the Competitive Research Grants Office. NOTE
This paper is based on a presentation to the Annual Meeting of the Society for Nutrition Education, July, 1979.
ADVICE
tion and disease; that recommendations for major dietary change should come only after careful risk-benefit analyses; and that good nutrition should not be promoted as a panacea for the prevention of diseases. These arguments form an interesting basis for discussion among nutrition students and nutrition professionals who are comfortable with scientific jargon. What is curious about the document is that the stated purpose is to "reduce the confusion in the mind of the public" that has resulted from "conflicting recommendations" about diet and health. From a nutrition education viewpoint, a pamphlet with a gray cover and solid technical text without a single illustration is hardly likely to catch the eye (or the mind) of the public. Furthermore, the report contains no specific mention of the consumer-oriented joint USDAHEW publication Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelinesfor Americans, nor does it detail which, if any, of the guidelines contained in the latter publication are considered confusing. Needless to say, the FNB report has sparked considerable speculation as to its true purposes and effects. (See the news sections of Science 208:1354-5,1980, and Nature 285:428,1980.) S.M.a. JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION
161
DIETARY
A rather curious document entitled Toward Healthful Diets has been authored by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council (A vailable from Office of Publications, National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418). The dietary recommendations put forth in the report are neither curious nor particularly controversial- select foods from four food groups, eat a wide variety of foods, strive for ideal body weight through diet and exercise, avoid low-nutrient, high-energy foods when energy requirement is low, and use salt in moderation. The bulk of the supporting text is a fairly technical discussion of scientitiic literature and some government reports about what a small role nutrition has been proved to have in the causation of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes mellitus. The messages are that there is insufficient evidence to support the recommendation of major changes in the way Americans eat; that the American way of eating is associated with a very healthy population in which most deaths due to degenerative diseases are among persons over 65 years of age; that much more basic research is needed in the area of nutriVOLUME
12
NUMBER
3
1980
21 22
23
24
25
26 27 28
measurement. In Readings in attitude theory and measurement, M. Fishbein, ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Fishbein, M., and 1. Ajzen. Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley Publishing Co., 1975. Olson, J .C. Inferential belief formation in the cue utilization process. In Advances in consumer research, H.K. Hunt, ed. Vol. 5. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1978, pp. 706-13. Olson, J .C. Theories of information encoding and storage: Implications for consumer research. In The effect of information on consumer and market behavior, A.A. Mitchell, ed. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1978, pp. 49-60. Olson, J.C., and A. Muderrisoglu. The reliability of responses obtained by free elicitation: Implications for measuring attitude salience and memory structure. In Advances in consumer research, W.L. Wilkie, ed. Vol. 6. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Association for Consumer Research, 1979. Tulving, E., and G.H. Bower. The logic of memory representations. In The psychology oflearning and motivation: Advances in research and theory, G.H. Bower, ed. Vol. 8. New York: Academic Press, 1974. Wyer, R.S. Cognitive organization and change: An informationprocessing approach. Potomac, Md.: Laurence Erlbaum, 1974. Buschke, H. Two dimensional recall: Immediate identification of clusters in episodic and semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 16:201-15, 1977. Kelley, G.A. The psychology ofpersonal constructs. Vols. 1 and 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1955.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Preparation of this paper was supported by the Science and Education Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Grant No. 5901-0410-8-0151-0 from the Competitive Research Grants Office. NOTE
This paper is based on a presentation to the Annual Meeting of the Society for Nutrition Education, July, 1979.
ADVICE
tion and disease; that recommendations for major dietary change should come only after careful risk-benefit analyses; and that good nutrition should not be promoted as a panacea for the prevention of diseases. These arguments form an interesting basis for discussion among nutrition students and nutrition professionals who are comfortable with scientific jargon. What is curious about the document is that the stated purpose is to "reduce the confusion in the mind of the public" that has resulted from "conflicting recommendations" about diet and health. From a nutrition education viewpoint, a pamphlet with a gray cover and solid technical text without a single illustration is hardly likely to catch the eye (or the mind) of the public. Furthermore, the report contains no specific mention of the consumer-oriented joint USDAHEW publication Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelinesfor Americans, nor does it detail which, if any, of the guidelines contained in the latter publication are considered confusing. Needless to say, the FNB report has sparked considerable speculation as to its true purposes and effects. (See the news sections of Science 208:1354-5,1980, and Nature 285:428,1980.) S.M.a. JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION
161