Browsing by Author "Vittadini, Elena"
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- Benefits of dietary fibre to human health: study from a multi-country platformPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Duarte, João; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, Paula; Leal, Marcela; Rumbak, Ivana; Baric, Irena; Komes, Drazenka; Satalic, Zvonimir; Saric, Marijana Matek; Tarcea, Monica; Fazakas, Zita; Jovanoska, Dijana; Vanevski, Dragoljub; Vittadini, Elena; Pellegrini, Nicoletta; Szucs, Viktória; Harangozó, Júlia; EL-Kenawy, Ayman; EL-Shenawy, Omnia; Yalçin, Erkan; Kösemeci, Cem; Klava, Dace; Straumite, EvitaPurpose: Because dietary fibre has been recognized as a major ally to the maintenance of a healthy body as well as to help against the development of some chronic diseases, this work aimed at studying the level of knowledge of a relatively wide range of people about the health effects related to the ingestion of dietary fibre in appropriate dosages. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants. The data were collected from 10 countries in 3 different continents (Europe, Africa and America) and measured the level of knowledge regarding different health benefits from dietary fibre. The questionnaires were applied by direct interview after verbal informed consent. Findings: The results obtained considering the general level of knowledge revealed a considerable degree of information about the benefits of fibre (average score of 3.54±0.5, on a scale from 1 to 5). There were significant differences between genders (p<0.001), with higher average score for women, and also for level of education (p<0.001), with higher score for university level. The living environment also showed significant differences (p<0.001), with people living in urban areas showing a higher degree of knowledge. Also for countries the differences were significant (p<0.001), with the highest score obtained for Portugal (3.7), and the lowest for Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia and Romania (3.5). However, despite these differences, the results showed that for all the countries the degree of knowledge was good (above 3.5), corresponding to a minimum level of knowledge of 70%. Originality/Value: This work is considered important due to the wide coverage, including so many countries inclusive with different social and cultural settings. The study allowed concluding that, in general, the participants in the study were quite well informed about the benefits of dietary fibre for the improvement of human health, regardless of gender, level of education, living environment or country. This finding is very relevant considering the diversity of people that composed the sample and reinforces the necessity of continuing with educational policies aimed at providing the general population with the knowledge that might help them make appropriate food choices.
- Cultural dimensions associated with food choice: A survey based multi-country studyPublication . Djekic, Ilija; Bartkiene, Elena; Szűcs, Viktória; Tarcea, Monica; Klarin, Ivo; Černelić-Bizjak, Maša; Isoldi, Kathy; EL-Kenawy, Ayman; Ferreira, Vanessa; Klava, Dace; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Vittadini, Elena; Leal, Marcela; Frez-Muñoz, Lucia; Papageorgiou, Maria; Guiné, RaquelThe aim of this research was to analyze motivations behind food choices from a cross-cultural perspective. It presents results derived from a multi-country study associated with Hofstede's cultural dimensions. A total of 11,919 respondents from 16 countries took part in this research. Two groups of statements were included in the survey: ‘economic & availability motivations' and ‘social & cultural motivations'. Six Hofstede's cultural dimensions covered: Power Distance Index, Individualism–Collectivism Index, Masculinity–Femininity Index, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Term Orientation Index and Indulgence Restraint Index. This study confirmed that different cultural aspects have influence on food choice. A cluster analysis revealed two clusters as follows: ‘attitudinal’ cluster comprising of 11 countries (57.7% % of the total sample) opposed to the ‘ambivalent’ cluster (47.3%) consisting of the remaining five countries. The results confirm a correlation between Hofstede's dimensions, specifically with individualistic, feminine and tolerant societies. Obtained results may be of interest for different food and gastronomy stakeholders shifting their food policies from a local to a cross-cultural perspective.
- Determinants of economic motivations for food choice: insights for the understanding of consumer behaviourPublication . Martinho, Vítor; Bartkiene, Elena; Djekic, Ilija; Tarcea, Monica; Barić, Irena Colić; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Szűcs, Viktória; Sarcona, Alessandra; El-Kenawy, Ayman; Ferreira, Vanessa; Klava, Dace; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Vittadini, Elena; Leal, Marcela; Bolhuis, Dieuwerke; Papageorgiou, Maria; Guiné, Raquel P. F.Food consumption involves several dimensions, being some of them directly associated with the consumers’ characteristics. The interrelationships between these domains impact consumer behaviour for food choice and the consequent decisions for food consumption. In these frameworks, economic motivations are determinant. On the other hand, the scientific literature highlights that the economic-based stimuli to choose food is still underexplored. In this perspective, the objective of this study was to assess the main sociodemographic and anthropometric determinants of the economic motivations for food choice. For that, a questionnaire survey was carried out involving 11,919 respondents from 16 countries. A validated questionnaire was used, translated into the native languages in all participating countries, using a back-translation process. First, the information obtained was assessed through factor analysis to reduce the number of variables associated with the economic motivations and to identify indexes. After, and considering the indexes obtained as dependent variables, a classification and regression tree analysis was performed. As main insights, it is highlighted that the main determinants of the economic motivations are country of residence, age, gender, civil state, professional activity, educational level, living environment, responsibility for buying food, weight, height, body mass index, healthy diets and physical exercise practices. Additionally, the results also reveal that economic motivations may be associated with two indexes, one related to convenience attitudes and the other to quality concerns. Finally, the younger persons and the women are the social groups more concerned with healthy diets and food quality. In conclusion, this work confirmed that food choice is to a high extent influenced by several sociodemographic and behavioural factors.
- EATMOT Project: Eating motivations in different parts of the world, and particularly in countries from the Mediterranean AreaPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, Paula; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Duarte, João; Rumbak, Ivana; Vittadini, Elena; Papageorgiou, Maria; EL-Kenawy, AymanThe EATMOT Project is a multinational study about different eating motivations, and that is being carried out in 18 countries. The project addresses several types of factors that are related to food choice and consumption patterns, and that may in some extent condition the eating motivations, namely health related factors; economic and availability aspects; emotional determinants; social, cultural and religious influences; marketing and advertising campaigns and finally environmental concerns. The study is based on a questionnaire that was prepared purposely for the project, and therefore adequate to evaluate the aspects that determine the objectives highlighted. The study is coordinated by Portugal and involves a team of about 70 researchers from 16 countries, distributed as follows: Argentina, Brazil and United States in the American continent; Egypt in African continent; and the remaining countries in Europe: Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Romania. The collected results surpass 12 thousand cases and allow, among many other studies, characterizing the eating motivations in different parts of the world, including the Mediterranean surrounding countries or countries which are typically linked to the Mediterranean diet, specifically: Croatia, Egypt, Italy, Greece or Portugal.
- Emotions and Food Consumption: Emotional Eating Behavior in a European PopulationPublication . Ljubičić, Marija; Matek Sarić, Marijana; Klarin, Ivo; Rumbak, Ivana; Colić Barić, Irena; Ranilović, Jasmina; Dželalija, Boris; Sarić, Ana; Nakić, Dario; Djekic, Ilija; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Bartkiene, Elena; Papageorgiou, Maria; Tarcea, Monica; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Klava, Dace; Szűcs, Viktória; Vittadini, Elena; Bolhuis, Dieuwerke; Guiné, Raquel P. F.Emotion can reflect in the perception of food consumption. An increase in food intake during emotional and psychological conditions may have a negative impact on human health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the associations between food consumption, emotional eating behavior, and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, boredom eating, maintaining vigilance and alertness, and emotional food consolation. We used a Motivations for Food Choices Questionnaire (Eating Motivations, EATMOT) to determine the emotional aspects of food consumption in 9052 respondents living in 12 European countries between October 2017 and March 2018. Ordinal linear regression was used to identify the associations between the emotional eating behavior and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, emotional consolation, and reasons to improve physical and psychological conditions. The regression models confirmed the associations between food consumption, emotional conditions, and emotional eating behavior. Associations were found between the emotional eating behavior and stress (odds ratio (OR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07–1.60, p = 0.010), depressive mood (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.40–1.43, p < 0.001), loneliness (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.58–1.62, p < 0.001), boredom (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.36–1.39, p < 0.001), and emotional consolation (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.54–1.57, p < 0.001). Emotional eating was associated with an effort to improve physical and psychological conditions, such as controlling body weight (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.10–1.12, p < 0.001), keeping awake and alert (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.19–1.20, p < 0.001) and consumption to feel good (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.21–1.22, p < 0.001). In conclusion, emotions might provoke emotional eating behavior. The appropriate way to handle stress, depression, or other emotional states is important in conditions of being emotionally overwhelmed. The public should be educated on how to handle different emotional states. The focus should be moved somehow from emotional eating and the consumption of unhealthy food to healthy lifestyle practices, including regular exercise and healthy eating habits. Thus, it is necessary to halt these negative health effects on human health through public health programs.
- Evalution through artificial neural networks of the sociodemographic Influences on food choicesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Mendes, Mateus; Leal, Marcela; Ferreira, Vanessa; Rumbak, Ivana; El-Said, Ayman; Papageorgiou, Maria; Szucs, Viktória; Vittadini, Elena; Klava, Dace; Bartkiene, Elena; Munoz, Lucia; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Tarcea, Monica; Djekic, Ilija; Bizjak, Maša; Isoldi, KathyIntroduction: The EATMOT Project is a multinational study that is being carried out in 16 countries about different eating motivations, given their recognized importance in the definition of people’s dietary patterns. Objective: This study investigated the influence of sociodemographic factors on some types of eating motivations, specifically: health related factors; economic and availability aspects; emotional determinants; social, cultural and religious influences; marketing and advertising campaigns and finally environmental concerns. Methods: This is a longitudinal observational study carried out on a non-probabilistic sample with 11960 participants. For the analysis of the data were used the T-test for independent samples or ANOVA with Post-Hoc Tukey HSD, depending on the case. The modelling through artificial neural networks included 7 input variables (sociodemographic characteristics) and 6 output variables (the eating motivations’ groups). Results: Variables like age, marital status, country, living environment, level of education or professional area significantly influenced all the types of eating motivations analysed. However, regarding gender, no significant differences were observed for two of the six types of motivations analysed: economic & availability and marketing & commercial. The results of the ANN modelling showed that the strongest positive factors determining the eating motivations were age for health, country for emotional motivations, gender for economic & availability, country for social & cultural, country for environmental & political, and finally country also for the marketing & commercial motivations. Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of the sociodemographic characteristics as determinants for eating patterns around the globe, and particularly the geographic location.
- Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian ConsumersPublication . Wongprawmas, Rungsaran; Mora, Cristina; Pellegrini, Nicoletta; Guiné, Raquel P. F.; Carini, Eleonora; Sogari, Giovanni; Vittadini, ElenaHealthy food choices are crucial for a healthy lifestyle. However, food choices are complex and affected by various factors. Understanding the determinant factors affecting food choices could aid policy-makers in designing better strategies to promote healthy food choices in the general public. This study aims to evaluate the food choice motivations and to segment consumer groups, according to their food choice motivations, in a sample of 531 Italian consumers (collected by convenience sampling), through offline and online survey platforms. K-means cluster analysis was applied to identify consumer groups using six food choice motivation categories (health, emotional, economic and availability, social and cultural, environmental and political, and marketing and commercial). The results suggest that the strongest determinants for the food choices of Italian consumers are Environmental factors and Health. Two consumer profiles were identified through the segmentation analysis: Emotional eating and Health-driven consumers. The respondents were found to have a good awareness of what comprises a healthy diet. There is a potential market for healthy and sustainable food products, especially products with minimal or environmentally friendly packages. Food labels and information strategies could be promoted as tools to assist consumers to make healthy food choices.
- Healthy motivations for food consumption in 16 countriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Joana Gonçalves; Florença, Sofia de Guiné e; Ferreira, Manuela; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Elena Bartkiene; Djekić, Ilija; Tarcea,Monica; Rumbak, Ivana; Sarić, Marijana Matek; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Isoldi, Kathy; EL-Kenawy, Ayman; Ferreira, Vanessa; Klava, Dace; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Vittadini, Elena; Leal, Marcela; Papageorgiou, Maria; Anjos, OféliaThere are many factors that can influence people’s attitudes towards healthy eating, including personal nature, sociodemographic influences, and lifestyle. This work investigated to what extent the motivations for healthy food consumption are shaped in individuals from different countries. A questionnaire survey was carried out on a sample of 11,919 participants from 16 countries. The results indicated that the strongest motivations for healthy food consumption were related to the perception of consuming healthy food, eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals, allied to food safety and hygiene concerns. Significant differences were found in healthy motivations between countries. Additionally, the sociodemographic variables that had a higher influence on health motivation levels were country, age, and gender. Concerning the anthropometric and lifestyle variables influencing healthy motivation for food consumption, the discriminating variables were: believing in having a healthy diet, physical exercise, and chronic diseases. In conclusion, the work showed important differences in the motivations for a healthy diet in different countries, but other variables also play a role in the motivation for the consumption of foods for health and well-being.
- Influence of sociodemographic factors on eating motivations – modelling through artificial neural networks (ANN)Publication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, Paula; Mendes, Mateus; Bartkiene, Elena; Szűcs, Viktória; Tarcea, Monica; Sarić, Marijana Matek; Černelič-Bizjak, Maša; Isoldi, Kathy; EL-Kenawy, Ayman; Ferreira, Vanessa; Klava, Dace; Korzeniowska, Małgorzata; Vittadini, Elena; Leal, Marcela; Frez-Muñoz, Lucia; Papageorgiou, Maria; Djekić, IlijaThis study aimed at investigating the influence of some sociodemographic factors on the eating motivations. A longitudinal study was carried conducted with 11960 participants from 16 countries. Data analysis included t-test for independent samples or ANOVA, and neural network models were also created, to relate the input and output variables. Results showed that factors like age, marital status, country, living environment, level of education or professional area significantly influenced all of the studied types of eating motivations. Neural networks modelling indicated variability in the food choices, but identifying some trends, for example the strongest positive factor determining health motivations was age, while for emotional motivations was living environment, and for economic and availability motivations was gender. On the other hand, country revealed a high positive influence for the social and cultural as well as for environmental and political and also for marketing and commercial motivations.
- Knowledge about dietary fibre: a fibre study frameworkPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, Paula; Duarte, João; Leal, Marcela; Rumbak, Ivana; Barić, Irena C.; Komes, Drazenka; Satalić, Zvonimir; Sarić, Marijana M.; Tarcea, Monica; Fazakas, Zita; Jovanoska, Dijana; Vanevski, Dragoljub; Vittadini, Elena; Pellegrini, Nicoletta; Szűcs, Viktória; Harangozó, Júlia; EL-Kenawy, Ayman; EL-Shenawy, Omnia; Yalçın, Erkan; Kösemeci, Cem; Klava, Dace; Straumite, EvitaThe objective of this work was to study the degree of knowledge about dietary fibre (DF), as influenced by factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America). The results showed that the participants revealed on average a positive but still low global level of knowledge, which alerts for the need to take some actions to further inform the population about DF and its role as a component of a healthy diet. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The highest level of knowledge was revealed by the participants from female gender, with higher education and living in urban areas. Concerning the country, the best informed were the participants from Romania, followed by those from Portugal and Turkey while the least informed were from Egypt.