Dietary Habits of Young People in Young Adulthood : preliminary Study to Consider the Food Education Techniques

In this study, the investigation of the meal content that used the Japanese Food Balance Guide Spinning Top and the questionnaire survey concerning eating habits were conducted on 273 students (19 men and 254 women) in the Ehime prefecture that were in young adulthood. Then, the effectiveness of the Japanese Food Balance Guide Spinning Top as the nutrition education technique was examined, and the following results were obtained. The result of the investigation that used the Japanese Food Balance Guide Spinning Top, out of five meal categories complying with the guide "grain dishes", "vegetables", "milk and dairy products", and "fruit" showed deficient and imbalanced tendency. Especially, "fruits"(94.1%), "vegetables"(84.6%), and "milk and dairy products"(78.3%) were relatively higher frequencies of deficient condition than other categories. Total rate of undernourished including breakfast was 19.5%, and the undernourished rate of the man group was significant higher than that of the female group (chi-square -test, p＜0.05). Although the percentage of those who answered as "eats the vegetable enough" was 44.2% in the question of the vegetable intake in the questionnaire concerning eating habits, the percentage of "lack" the intake of "vegetable" categorized into the Japanese Food Balance Guide Spinning Top was 84.6%. The results of the follow-up survey on eating habits were as follows; "Eating habits were made" was 8.8%, "Eating habits are made than before" was 45.6%, and "Eating habits will be improved than before" was 36.8%. Concrete contents to improve eating habits were "A lot of vegetables were taken" (42.3%), "It eats the balance well"(32.7%), and "Eat three foods a day as regularly as possible"(30.8%) and so forth. As a result of the investigation, in order to improve eating habits of young adulthood using "Japanese Food Balance Guide Spinning Top" for food education techniques, the possibilities of motivation and behavior changing were indicated and it suggested that the study aimed to behavior modification and food education method can be efficient