Communicating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to Support Dietary Behavior Change in the Public: A Health Communications White Paper
Creators: name: Mosher, Amber
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Over the past several decades, chronic disease and obesity have become increasingly urgent public health challenges in the United States. Today, 68% of US adults are overweight or obese and the leading causes of death are diet-related chronic conditions (i.e., cardiovascular disease, cancer, and stroke). For decades the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) has been one of the most prominent nutrition-related national health promotion efforts to improve health outcomes by improving the nutrition and dietary patterns in the US population. The 2010 DGA aims to promote health, reduce the risk of diet-related chronic disease, and reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the American public. Today the vast majority of Americans still consume a diet inconsistent with DGA recommendations. In addition, a 2010 study of consumer health-related knowledge demonstrated that while the majority of consumers are aware of the Dietary Guidelines (71%), most have a poor knowledge of the recommendations and the underlying concept of individual calorie needs. In their recent report, the 2010 DGAC concluded, “Now, as in the past, a disconnect exists between dietary recommendations and what Americans actually consume. In the literature, many suggest the impact of environmental factors and communication of the Dietary Guidelines to the public influence adoption of the DGA recommendations in the American public. This report emphasizes the importance of communication methods in Dietary Guidelines related health promotion efforts to impact dietary behaviors in the American public by influencing intrapersonal factors that effect food choice and dietary patterns such as knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. The specific objectives of this report are to investigate the use of health communications strategies to translate the Dietary Guidelines to the public on an intrapersonal level to support individual dietary behavior change, and suggest future directions for improving communication of the DGA to the American public. This review suggests gaps in the planning, evaluation, and coordination of past DGA related communication strategies for the American public, which has resulted in evidence gaps regarding to the overall effectiveness of the Dietary Guidelines and related health promotion efforts at achieving dietary behavior change in the American public. Currently there is a need for research into how past efforts to communicate the Dietary Guidelines to the general public have effected intrapersonal determinants of dietary behaviors such as knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy, and if changes in these factors are associated with positive changes in food choices and dietary patterns. This research data would strengthen evidence on what motivates individuals on an individual level to adopt recommended dietary behaviors, and would help public health professionals develop more effective health promotion and communication strategies to influence these factors and improve dietary patterns in the American public. There is also a need for to monitor trends in existing SES health disparities related to knowledge, awareness, and self-efficacy of the Dietary Guidelines. Future research should investigate how past and future communication efforts for the general public may affect existing health disparities in at-risk segments of the population such as African Americans and individuals of low-SES. These disparate populations often experience increased rates of illness and mortality related to poor diet and lifestyle, so it is crucial health promotion efforts related to the Dietary Guidelines do no have negative unintended consequences on existing health inequities. In conclusion, incorporating effective health communication strategies into existing or future Dietary Guidelines-related health promotion efforts may result in improved knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and self-efficacy of adopting federal dietary guidance in the American public, and ultimately support individual dietary behavior change. While health communication strategies alone will not likely influence the dietary patterns of the American public, they can improve Dietary Guidelines health promotion and nutrition education efforts, which can then better support existing public policy efforts. Through increased research funding and better use of existing data collection methods, public health professionals and health promotion program planners could gain a better understanding of how communication of the Dietary Guidelines influences individual factors that affect dietary behaviors, and improve health promotion efforts to influence food choices and dietary patterns in the American public.