Food literacy in Venezuelan adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ABSTRACTFood literacy reflects personal behaviours around healthy eating and is an important skill for individuals to make healthy dietary choices. The present cross-sectional study investigated food literacy and the ability to identify n = 43 foods of plant origin in n = 1322 Venezuelan adolescents aged 15–17 years in the city of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. With only n = 14 correctly identified plant food items (median; IQR: 12), the performance in this sample was alarmingly poor, suggesting that food literacy in Venezuelan adolescents warrants urgent public health attention. Substantial and significant sex-specific differences were found, with an even worse performance in male adolescents. The lacking ability to correctly identify foods of plant origin has national public health implications, and constitutes an important obstacle for national strategies and dietary guidelines, which aim at improving nutrient intake in this particularly vulnerable population group.

Keywords

• Adolescent health
• diet quality
• food literacy
• vegetables
• fruits
• education