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Educate your patients on the importance of 3-A-Day of Dairy: Here's
a great
tool (PDF: 618k) to show families how to get their 3-A-Day of Dairy
every day for stronger bones.
Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Dietetic
Association, and The National Medical Association.
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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Factors Influencing Eating Behaviors
Summary
Multiple interacting factors, both individual (personal) and environmental, influence eating behaviors. Taste is one of the most important factors affecting food intake. The finding that children prefer flavored milk can be used to develop strategies to increase children's consumption of milk and milk's nutrients such as calcium. Also, knowledge of culturally determined taste preferences can be used to help tailor interventions to specific ethnic minority groups to increase their consumption of nutrient rich dairy foods.
Concerns about body weight and the ability to digest lactose may be a barrier to consuming milk and other dairy products. Interventions need to address these concerns. For example, strategies for dieting individuals need to emphasize that a wide variety of dairy products are available, including reduced fat and low fat milks and other dairy products; that dairy products can be consumed without increasing body weight; and that emerging research suggests that dairy products may play a role in reducing body weight and body fat. Interventions for lactose maldigesters need to focus on appropriate incentives to overcome cultural barriers and provide simple strategies to include dairy products in the diet. For example, milk in small doses with meals, aged cheeses, yogurt with active cultures, and lactose-reduced or lactose-free dairy products are well tolerated by lactose maldigesters.
Parents, eating away from home, and the mass media can influence food choices and eating behaviors. Maternal modeling of healthful patterns of food intake can have a positive effect on children's dietary patterns. When intakes of milk, soft drinks, and calcium were examined in mothers and their 5-year-old daughters, researchers found that mothers who drank milk more frequently tended to have daughters who drank milk more often and consumed fewer soft drinks.
Where people eat influences their eating behavior. Health professionals need to help people make healthful food and beverage choices when eating both inside and outside the home. Participating in school meal programs such as the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program improves students' nutrient intake. A priority of the Action for Healthy Kids initiative ( www.actionforhealthykids.org ) is to improve food choices throughout the total school environment.
There is concern that the numerous, diverse messages about diet and health available through the media, promotions, and advertising may confuse consumers and cause them to disregard all health-related information. This concern has led to efforts to provide consumers with simple, actionable messages that can be readily understood and incorporated into everyday lives. An example is the "3-A-Day of Dairy for Stronger Bones" campaign (www.3aday.org) sponsored by the dairy industry in collaboration with health professional organizations to help solve America's calcium crisis.
Closing the gap between actual and optimal diets requires an understanding of the multiple factors influencing eating behaviors. With this knowledge, health professionals can develop effective nutrition interventions that reduce barriers and create more opportunities to engage in healthful eating behaviors.
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