Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Consumers Related to Health and Diet Issues in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria

Consumer knowledge, attitude, and practice could determine their nutrition and health status. Objectives: This work determined the consumer knowledge, attitude, and practices related to health and diet issues in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, Enugu State Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Simple random sampling technique was used to select 400 respondents from the study area. Data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and practices of consumers towards health and diet issues was obtained with a structured questionnaire and analyzed with IBM statistical product for service solution (version 21.0) using descriptive (frequency and percentages)and inferential (Chi-square) statistics. Results: There were more (57.5%) males than females (42.5%). The common(43.3%) age range was 15 to 30years, mostly (46.6%)unmarried. They were mainly Christians (73.9%),with a major family size of 1-3 (46.6%) persons. Most (76.0%) of them were of Igbo ethnicity, with farming (39%) and artisan (22.8%) as common occupations. Forty-four percent had secondary education,42.3% earns between N20,0000-40000 monthly. A good percentage had a fair knowledge (53.8%)and attitude (48.5%) on health and diet issues. Seventy-three percent heard about dietary supplements through radio/television (45.8%), with 52.0% usage. Many (69.5%) check expiry dates of food items before purchase,5.3% use nutrition facts to purchase food products. Reasons for the non-use of the nutritional information on food labels were lack of knowledge (41%), ignorant of use (46.5%), and inability to view the tiny inscriptions (37.5%). Many (43.2%) of the respondents were regular buyers of low-fat/fat-free foods. Some (44.5%) were on a low sodium diet. Nutrition knowledge was significantly (P=0.02) associated with the purchase of low-fat foods, and positively related to the identification of sodium inscription on food products (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Respondents have a fair knowledge and attitude towards diet and health issues, but utilization of nutrition information on food labels was low