Browsing by Author "Szűcs, V."
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- Consumers knowledge about dietary fibre : Results of a survey questionnaire in Hungary and RomaniaPublication . Szűcs, V.; Fazakas, Z.; Tarcea, M.; Guiné, RaquelDietary fi bres (DFs) are essential components of the balanced diet. Even though the adequate level of their consumption can be ensured from several natural (e.g. fruit, vegetables, legumes) and ‘artifi cial’ sources (e.g. functional foods), the consumed levels are below the recommendations. To analyse the Hungarian and Romanian consumers’ knowledge level, their perceptions of the health benefi ts associated with fi bre, as well as the recognition of the potential information sources, a survey questionnaire was conducted with the total of 713 consumers. Results showed that the level of knowledge about DFs was not adequate. Internet was found to be widely used and identifi ed as one of the most appropriate information sources to encourage the consumption of DF. It was a favourable result that three-quarter of the respondents was interested in the topic of healthy food consumption; however, just less than half of them took into consideration the label information during their shopping decisions. To increase the consumption of DF and to support the responsibility and conscious consumer decisions steps must to be done (e.g. education of children, pointing out of the sources). For this purpose, modern information technology and communication channels fi tting to the consumers’ cultural and personal particularities can be utilized.
- Élelmiszer-Választást Befolyásoló Tényezők Vizsgálata - Hazai Kérdőíves Vizsgálat EredményeiPublication . Szűcs, V.; Hámori, J.; Guiné, Raquel
- Factor and cluster analysis to knowledge about dietary fibrePublication . Guiné, Raquel; Correia, Paula; Klava, D.; Straumite, E.; Szűcs, V.; Harangozó, J.; Tarcea, M.; Fazakas, Z.; Rumbak, I.; Barić, I. C.; Komes, D.; Satalić, Z.; Sarić, M. M.; Yalçın, E.; Kösemeci, C.; Leal, M.; Jovanoska, D.; Vanevski, D.; Vittadini, E.; Pellegrini, N.; EL-Kenawy, A.; EL-Shenawy, O.The present study was aimed at investigating what are the people’s levels of information about dietary fibre (DF) and how they relate to some fators that result from the people’s perceptions associated with the knowledge about DF. The study consisted of a descriptive cross-sectional survey undertaken on a sample of over 6 thousand participants, original from 10 countries. Statistical techniques like factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied to the data. Factor analysis showed that 10 out of the 12 variables used to measure the knowledge about DF could be grouped into 2 factors: one associated with health effects of DF and the other with its natural sources. The internal consistency of both factors was evaluated by the Cronbach’s alfa (0.854 and 0.644, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed that the participants could be divided into 3 groups: Cluster 1 – Good knowledge both about sources and health effects of DF; Cluster 2 – Good knowledge about the sources of DF but poor knowledge about its health effects; Cluster 3 – Poor knowledge both about sources and health effects of DF. The results were subject to analysis of stability by spliting the data set in 2 halfs. The cluster membership was found associated with living environment and level of education, but not with age, gender or country.
- Information, Perceptions and Motivations for Healthy Eating on a Group of European CountriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Duarte, João; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Bartkiene, E.; Lele, v.; Starkute, v.; Juodeikiene, G.; Adomaitiene, V.; Steibliene, V.; Zadeike, D.; Szűcs, V.; Hámori, J.; Bizjak, M. C.; Stubelj, M.; Klava, D.; Straumite, E.; Kruma, Z.; Tarcea, M.; Fazakas, Z.; Buicu, F.; Ruta, F.; Rus, V.This is an original research work that is a part of the EATMOT project, which aims to study the eating motivations of different nature in a set of countries all over the world. In this work will be presented some results of the project, regarding three major areas: perceptions about healthy eating, sources of information about healthy diet and healthy motivations for food choice. This is a longitudinal observational study carried out on a non- probabilistic sample with 4870 participants residing in 6 European countries: Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia. Analysis of the data was performed using descriptive statistics and t-test for independent samples or ANOVA with Post-Hoc Tukey HSD, depending on the case. The results obtained allowed concluding that most of the participants have some knowledge about what a healthy diet entails, but still one third did not manifest an opinion for the questions related to healthy eating. Regarding the sources of information about healthy eating, internet was the source more frequently used by a significant part of the participants, while hospitals and health centres were quite irrelevant. This raises some concerns because the internet mighht not always be a reliable source of information. Finally, it was found that the health factors were more influential for the food choices in older people, females, widowed, retired and people working or studying in the area of nutrition.
- Knowledge about dietary fibres (KADF): development and validation of an evaluation instrument through structural equation modelling (SEM)Publication . Guiné, Raquel; Duarte, J.; Ferreira, M.; Correia, P.; Leal, M.; Rumbak, I.; Barić, I.C.; Komes, D.; Satalić, Z.; Sarić, M.M.; Tarcea, M.; Fazakas, Z.; Jovanoska, D.; Vanevski, D.; Vittadini, E.; Pellegrini, N.; Szűcs, V.; Harangozó, J.; EL-Kenawy, A.; EL-Shenawy, O.; Yalçın, E.; Kösemeci, C.; Klava, D.; Straumite, E.Objectives: Because there is scientific evidence that an appropriate intake of dietary fibre should be part of a healthy diet, given its importance in promoting health, the present study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to evaluate the knowledge of the general population about dietary fibres. Study design: The present study was a cross sectional study. Methods: The methodological study of psychometric validation was conducted with 6010 participants, residing in ten countries from 3 continents. The instrument is a questionnaire of self-response, aimed at collecting information on knowledge about food fibres. For exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was chosen the analysis of the main components using varimax orthogonal rotation and eigenvalues greater than 1. In confirmatory factor analysis by structural equation modelling (SEM) was considered the covariance matrix and adopted the Maximum Likelihood Estimation algorithm for parameter estimation. Results: Exploratory factor analysis retained two factors. The first was called Dietary Fibre and Promotion of Health (DFPH) and included 7 questions that explained 33.94 % of total variance ( = 0.852). The second was named Sources of Dietary Fibre (SDF) and included 4 questions that explained 22.46% of total variance ( = 0.786). The model was tested by SEM giving a final solution with four questions in each factor. This model showed a very good fit in practically all the indexes considered, except for the ratio 2/df. The values of average variance extracted (0.458 and 0.483) demonstrate the existence of convergent validity; the results also prove the existence of discriminant validity of the factors (r2 = 0.028) and finally good internal consistency was confirmed by the values of composite reliability (0.854 and 0.787). Conclusions: This study allowed validating the KADF scale, increasing the degree of confidence in the information obtained through this instrument in this and in future studies.
- Knowledge about sources of dietary fibres and health effects using a validated scale: a cross-country studyPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Duarte, J.; Ferreira, M.; Correia, P.; Leal, M.; Rumbak, I.; Barić, I.C.; Komes, D.; Satalić, Z.; Sarić, M.M.; Tarcea, M.; Fazakas, Z.; Jovanoska, D.; Vanevski, D.; Vittadini, E.; Pellegrini, N.; Szűcs, V.; Harangozó, J.; EL-Kenawy, A.; EL-Shenawy, O.; Yalçın, E.; Kösemeci, C.; Klava, D.; Straumite, E.Objectives Dietary fibre (DF) is one of the components of diet that strongly contributes to health improvements, particularly on the gastrointestinal system. Hence, this work intended to evaluate the relations between some sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, level of education, living environment or country on the levels of knowledge about dietary fibre (KADF), its sources and its effects on human health, using a validated scale. Study design The present study was a cross-sectional study. Methods A methodological study was conducted with 6010 participants, residing in 10 countries from different continents (Europe, America, Africa). The instrument was a questionnaire of self-response, aimed at collecting information on knowledge about food fibres. The instrument was used to validate a scale (KADF) which model was used in the present work to identify the best predictors of knowledge. The statistical tools used were as follows: basic descriptive statistics, decision trees, inferential analysis (t-test for independent samples with Levene test and one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons post hoc tests). Results The results showed that the best predictor for the three types of knowledge evaluated (about DF, about its sources and about its effects on human health) was always the country, meaning that the social, cultural and/or political conditions greatly determine the level of knowledge. On the other hand, the tests also showed that statistically significant differences were encountered regarding the three types of knowledge for all sociodemographic variables evaluated: age, gender, level of education, living environment and country. Conclusions The results showed that to improve the level of knowledge the actions planned should not be delineated in general as to reach all sectors of the populations, and that in addressing different people, different methodologies must be designed so as to provide an effective health education.
- Motivations for food choices – Results of a quantitative survey in HungaryPublication . Szűcs, V.; Hámori, J.; Guiné, RaquelToday’s consumer food choice is more complex than ever before, thus their decisions became more difficult to understand and to predict. In order to get more detailed information about the Hungarian consumers' food choice motivations a representative (gender, age, level, education, type of residency and region) self-administered questionnaire survey (N=500) was conducted among the 18-59 year-old Hungarian population. With the help of the questions (by scoring) referring to the quality of the nutrition ('How often do you think that you follow a balanced/healthy diet?') and to the frequency of physical exercise ('How often do you usually engage in physical exercise?') three consumer sub-groups were created: 'having healthy lifestyle' (32%), 'having average lifestyle' (44%) and 'having unhealthy lifestyle' (24%). Using the questionnaire’s statements (by scoring) six factors were formed: 'awareness', 'psychical', 'economic', social', 'environmental' and 'media'. For the data analysis IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0 was used. Results showed that consumers 'having healthy lifestyle' planned their nutrition along different beliefs and knowledge, while in case of group members 'having unhealthy lifestyle' planning was less typical. 'Psychical' factors had less effect on the food selection; moreover the mood-driven nutrition was more typical of less healthy lifestyle consumers. As the ratio of consumers having lower than average income was higher in the 'unhealthy lifestyle' group, they showed more sensitivity to economic impacts, like price. Minor differences were perceived regarding the 'social' factor. However it can be stated that while for the consumers 'having healthy lifestyle' dining meant a fellowship and pleasure, for 'unhealthy' people was the time to be in company and eat more. Those with an 'unhealthy lifestyle' pay less attention to themselves and to their environment (e.g. amount of food waste, level of packaging), too. Media had minor impact on the selection decisions, mainly for the consumers 'having healthy lifestyle'. Results of the present study showed that consumers’ food choice motivations have remarkable differences on the basis of the level of healthy lifestyle. The two main effecting factors on healthy lifestyle are awareness and economic factors. Awareness has positive influence on healthy way of life, but the more price sensitive consumers can pay less attention on healthy way of life.
- Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country SurveyPublication . Ferreira, M.; Guiné, Raquel; Duarte, J.; Correia, P.; Leal, M.; Baric, I.C.; Komes, D.; Saric, M.M.; Tarcea, M.; Fazakas, Z.; Jovanoska, D.; Vanevski, D.; Vittadini, E.; Pellegrini, N.; Szűcs, V.; Harangozo, J.; EL-Kenawy, A.; EL-Shenawy, O.; Yalcin, E.; Kosemeci, C.; Klava, D.; Straumite, E.Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. This work aimed at studying the sources of information about DF, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. The results showed that mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but the participants recognize that television might be a most suitable way to disseminate information about DF. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet, the preferred source of information, got highest scores for Hungary, for urban areas, for university level of education and for female gender. The radio, the least scored source of information, was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). As a conclusion, people get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centers and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.