Knowledge, attitude, and patient advice on sustainable diets among Spanish health professionals

Ujué Fresán; M Carmen Vidal-Carou; Guadalupe Ramos-Truchero; Miguel Sáenz de Pipaon; Luis A Moreno; Jordi Salas-Salvadó

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1182226

Knowledge, attitude, and patient advice on sustainable diets among Spanish health professionals

Front Nutr. 2023 Jul 17:10:1182226. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1182226. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ujué Fresán¹, M Carmen Vidal-Carou^{2

3}, Guadalupe Ramos-Truchero⁴, Miguel Sáenz de Pipaon⁵, Luis A Moreno^{6

7}, Jordi Salas-Salvadó^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ eHealth Group, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain.
² Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA-UB) Maria Maetzu Unit of Excellence Program, Universitat de Barcelona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain.
³ Departament de Nutrició, Ciències de l'Alimentació i Gastronomia, Campus de l'Alimentació de Torribera, Universitat de Barcelona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain.
⁴ Faculty of Education and Social Work, Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
⁵ Neonatology, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Universitario La Paz-IdiPAZ, (La Paz University Hospital-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Consorcio CIBER, M.P. Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain.
⁷ GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, Universidad de Zaragoza, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2) and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain.
⁸ Departament de Bioquímica i Biotecnologia, Unitat de Nutrició Humana, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
⁹ Alimentaciò, Nutrició, Desenvolupament i Salut Mental (ANUT-DSM) Department, Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Reus, Spain.

Abstract

Current dietary patterns, especially in high-income countries, are unsustainable. Health professionals, due to their credibility and close contact with the general population, could serve as agents of change for the adoption of sustainable diets. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding sustainable diets among the health professionals in Spain. A 24-item online questionnaire was designed for this purpose, and sent to health professionals (i.e., dietitians-nutritionists, nurses, physicians, and pharmacists). From September 2021 to May 2022, 2,545 health professionals answered the survey completely. One-fifth of them had never heard the term "sustainable diet", and most of them recognized having limited knowledge about it. They considered promoting sustainable diets when making dietary recommendations important, and pointed out that they would like to be trained on the topic. Indeed, they reported that all health professionals, independent of their career background, should be educated on sustainable diets. Efforts should be stressed on implementing training courses, at university level but also as continuous post-graduate training, providing health professionals in Spain the necessary knowledge to promote the adoption of sustainable diets among the population.

Keywords: dietary counseling; dietary environmental impact; dietary survey; food concerns; food sustainability; health personnel; sustainability awareness; sustainable knowledge.

Grants and funding

This study (i.e., technical support and publication fee) was funded by the Instituto Danone Spain, a non-profit organization funded by DANONE SA, but scientifically independent. DANONE SA had no role in the design and conduct of the study, data collection, management, analysis, and interpretation, nor the preparation, review, or approval of the published manuscript.