Barbeque and grandma’s cookies: New study looks at nostalgia, comfort in food preparation for older adults
Washington State University
PULLMAN, Wash. — Foods that evoke a sense of nostalgia and comfort and have good texture variety are important considerations in prepared meals aimed at older adults, according to new Washington State University research.
“We want to help the prepared food industry produce appetizing, healthy meals for older adults,” said Carolyn Ross, professor in WSU’s School of Food Science. “Malnutrition is quite prevalent in people over 60 because food may be available, but they won’t eat it if they don’t like it. We want to walk a line where food is tasty, convenient, and full of nutrients.”
In a paper recently published in the Journal of Food Science, Ross and her team developed desirable and nutritious dairy-rich breakfasts and desserts for older adults, defined as anyone over age 60. They asked 81 people, with an average age of 71, to taste two breakfast meals and two desserts. Scientists then asked a series of questions about the meals and individual eating habits.
Food-related nostalgia may be difficult to measure, but it showed up in many responses, Ross said.
“We asked what people thought about when it came to food and nostalgia,” she said. “Many responses were tied to a person, like their grandmother’s cookies. If a product evoked more nostalgia, then we found that they liked it more.”
Many responses to the nostalgia question revolved around barbeque, which stood out to Ross because nostalgia is so personal.
“I was surprised by the importance of comfort and nostalgia,” she said. “Those terms are tricky to describe, but it’s one of those ‘you know it when you see it’ things. We’re working now to hone down how people define those terms so we can help make more foods that appeal to this age range.”
Ross said she’s hoping to work with prepared food manufacturers to design foods specifically for older adults who want convenient but nutritious meals that they will enjoy.
“This is a huge and growing population,” she said. “We want to help keep them healthy and happy for a long time.”
Studying food nostalgia is a newer avenue of food science work, Ross said, but examining comfort food is a bit more established. Preference can vary widely due to cultural differences. In this study, whenever people labeled something as a comfort food, they liked it more. One ingredient was commonly placed in the comfort category: cheese.
“Participants’ perceived comfort level decreased if we decreased the flavor level,” Ross said. “That really stood out with cheese; when the participants said there wasn’t enough cheese flavor in the meal, then the comfort associated with the meal decreased. Cheese seems to mean comfort.”
The research team also found that food texture is important, which is not a new conclusion. Texture can have a significant impact on whether people will eat something.
“It’s not one specific texture or textures that matter, it’s a variety of textures,” Ross said. “Having a diet with a lot of texture variety, including textures like crispy and firm, along with soft and creamy foods, really stood out. And for older adults, who may not be able to eat the same firm and crispy foods they once could, keeping as much texture variety as possible is still important.”
In future studies, Ross hopes to look more at flavor and other specific meal attributes that increase comfort.
Journal
Journal of Food Science
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Older adults and prepared meals: The influence of comfort, nostalgia, and texture preferences on acceptance
What should be on your plate? Study shows student athletes don’t know
Student athletes are looking to social media for information about how to fuel their bodies, but the information they're getting isn't always helping
High school health classes often consist of a series of awkward lessons about STDs, drugs, and alcohol. Rarely do these classes teach students anything about another critical component of their health — nutrition.
This lack of nutrition education is especially dangerous to student athletes who need to fuel their bodies properly to protect themselves from injury and other health risks.
A new study shows that high school athletes have some serious gaps in both their general and sports-specific nutrition knowledge.
This work was published in Nutrients. Jennifer B. Fields, assistant professor of nutritional science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, collaborated with researchers at the University of Wisconsin and George Mason University on this study.
Fields and her collaborators have known that young athletes struggle with proper nutrition to fuel their highly active bodies.
“There’s this preconceived notion that all athletes are healthy,” Fields says. “A lot of times that’s not the case.”
The researchers previously found a high prevalence of eating disorders and other forms of disordered eating in college athletes, often linked to a lack of nutrition knowledge.
Student athletes often turn to unscientific outlets, like social media, for nutrition information in the absence of formal education.
Given this, the team became interested in seeing if similar patterns existed for high school athletes.
They used a pre-validated survey, the Abridged Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire, to assess student athletes’ nutrition knowledge. Forty-four students were recruited from high schools in Wisconsin and beyond. The students’ total nutrition score averaged around 45% for both boys and girls. Their general nutrition knowledge was about 58% and sport nutrition knowledge was about 35%.
The students’ perceptions about the daily recommended intake of key nutrients were significantly off base. They thought they needed fewer carbohydrates and total calories, and far more protein and fat than is actually recommended.
The students also demonstrated a lack of knowledge about when and what to eat to support sport performance.
“Their level of general nutrition knowledge and sport nutrition knowledge was very, very low,” Fields says. “They didn’t know how to eat a balanced diet for their overall health. Moreso, they didn’t know how to make proper fueling decisions for their sport.”
Many students reported that their primary source for nutrition knowledge was friends or family, followed closely by their coaches, who do not generally receive any formal nutrition training or education.
Fields says many of these knowledge gaps may be fueled by social media which pumps out inaccurate nutrition information and unrealistic body standards for young people, especially athletes.
“Adolescents in particular are just inundated with social media,” Fields says. “High schoolers are on Instagram, TikTok, whatever it may be, getting preconceived notions about how their bodies should look, how they should eat, and how they should exercise. And many times, it’s really conflicting with how they should be fueling as an athlete.”
One of the key differences between sports and regular nutrition is athletes’ calories and carbohydrate needs. Athletes should be consuming more than half their daily calories as carbohydrates, Fields says.
“Carbohydrates are athletes’ best friends,” Fields says. “That is so contradictory to what a lot of social media tells us.”
Athletes also, generally, shouldn’t follow the trend of intermittent fasting diets as they need to be fueling consistently throughout the day to support performance and recovery and ensure they are getting enough calories.
Athletes need to have more muscle mass to support their own safety as well, meaning they won’t look like some of the people they see on social media.
The next step for this research will be to develop an educational intervention for high school athletes to empower them with the knowledge they need to make healthy choices.
“One of our biggest takeaways is simply the need for more general nutrition education and sports-specific nutrition education for these adolescent athletes,” Fields says. “If we can change the behaviors throughout these high school years, then they get to college and have a much better sense of how to eat for their health and to optimize their performance.”
Journal
Nutrients
Method of Research
Survey
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Nutrition Knowledge and Perceived Dietary Requirements of Adolescent Student-Athletes: A Pilot Study
COI Statement
The authors of this manuscript received no financial remuneration for preparing and reviewing this paper from outside sources. A.R.J. has consulted with and received external funding from companies that sell certain dietary ingredients. A.R.J. also writes for online and other media outlets on topics related to exercise and nutrition. None of these entities had any role in the design of the paper; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish this paper.
Putting least calorific meals first on menu makes teenagers more likely to order them - study
University of Birmingham
New research has found that putting lower-calorie meal choices at the top of a restaurant menu, and reducing the availability of high-calorie options, makes teenagers more likely to order the healthier options.
Childhood obesity rates have been increasing year on year, with government pledges and targets to reduce obesity unfulfilled or missed. Restaurants are a common food environment for adolescents, with one-fifth of children consuming meals out at least once a week.
A recent study from the University of Birmingham and Aston University, published in the journal Appetite, has found that positioning main course options on a restaurant menu from lower to higher calorie amounts makes adolescents more likely to pick the healthier (lower calorie) option.
Dr Katie Edwards, Research Fellow in Psychology who led the study, said: “Childhood obesity is a significant public health challenge. A key period for targeting dietary intervention is adolescence, when young people become more independent, making their own decisions about diet and socialising with friends more. Interventions have targeted healthy eating at home and at school, but we wanted to see how altering restaurant menus can impact the choices teenagers make.”
The researchers asked 432 13-17-year-olds to take part in an online experiment. They presented the teenagers with different menus, with five starters, ten main courses and five desserts in separate sections, as one would find on a standard restaurant menu. Each menu was slightly different; one which reduced the number of high calorie options on offer, one with menu positioning of low to high calorie meals, one which combined the availability and position interventions, and then one ‘typical’ menu. The participants were asked to select a starter, main and dessert from each menu.
The experiment showed that the availability and the position interventions resulted in significantly lower calorie meal choices, compared to the choices made from the menu with no intervention (the ‘typical’ menu). The average number of calories for a selected meal reduced from 2099.78 to 1992.13 when the items were ordered from least to highest calorie content. The availability intervention reduced it from 2134.26 kcal to 1956.18 kcal. The group who had the combined availability and positioning intervention menu saw their meals calorie value plummet from 2173.60 kcal to 1884.44 kcal.
The study also found that the positioning intervention had the biggest impact on main course choices. The availability intervention and the combined interventions, on the other hand, did not have a big impact on the calorie value of main course choices. The availability intervention had the most impact on starter choices. None of the intervention had a significant impact on dessert choices.
Dr Edwards concluded: “Main menu choices saw the biggest reduction in calories following the position intervention, going from 1104.17 kcal to 1045.16 kcal, while the availability intervention saw the biggest reduction in the starter option. While not all interventions saw statistically significant reductions for all courses, each intervention saw a significant reduction in the calorie content of the overall meals.
Dr James Reynolds, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Aston University, said: “People tend to consume higher calorie meals when they eat out, so restaurants provide an important location for implementing low-cost and high-reach interventions which can encourage healthier eating in teenagers. Many restaurants are already required to display calorie information on their menus, but our research has shown that tactics like altering the position or availability of high calorie options on menus could also be a useful tool in trying to reduce obesity and help young people make healthier choices. The next step for this research would be to replicate the study in restaurant settings.”
ENDS
Journal
Appetite
