Understanding food choice in adult men: Influence of nutrition knowledge, food beliefs and dietary restraint

Previous studies investigating the influence of nutrition knowledge and attitudes and beliefs on food choice of consumers have not measured restrained eating. The present study examined the effects of restrained eating, nutrition knowledge, beliefs about selected foods and demographic variables on self-reported food choice using a convenience sample of 137 adult males from the local community. The foods were grouped into general categories and the results were analyzed using logistic regression. Logistic regression tested the hypothesis that the explanatory variables influenced the decision to consume the various food groups. Results showed that dietary restraint was a consistent predictor of food choice in this population. Restraint score influenced the reported consumption of all food groups except desserts. Subjects with high restraint scores were less likely to consume whole-fat dairy foods and eggs, beef and cured meats, fast foods, fats and oils and regular soda than those with low restraint scores. Those high in restraint were also more likely to consume 'healthy' foods. Other factors, such as living in an urban area, income, age and education, influenced the consumption of several of the food groups, but their impact on the regression models was less consistent than was the impact of restraint. In contrast to previous research, nutrition knowledge and food beliefs played only modest roles in the reported food choices of the subjects.