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Journal ArticleDOI

The nutritional health of the nation: diet, exercise and health.

11 Apr 1996-British journal of nursing (MA Healthcare London)-Vol. 5, Iss: 7, pp 404-410
TL;DR: The research reported in this article found high levels of public awareness of nutritional guidelines, and a sense of personal control over health, but accounts of other health-related agendas showed that being in control may mean choosing to become fitter or slimmer.
Abstract: Public health initiatives aimed at changing the nation's diet rely on simple messages to persuade people to eat more from certain food groups and less from others. The underlying rationale of this strategy is that control is located firmly in the hands of the individual who can 'choose' health by following the guidelines. The research reported in this article found high levels of public awareness of nutritional guidelines, and a sense of personal control over health. However, accounts of other health-related agendas showed that being in control may mean choosing to become fitter or slimmer. Within these pursuits, nutritional concerns were prioritized only in so far as they were seen to serve the attainment of a desired body shape. Health professionals need to be aware that nutritional guidelines may be competing with other mediating factors along the chosen route to health.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the results of the re-analysis of a substantial set of survey based quantitative data relating to food beliefs, practices and preferences were reported. The particular focus of attention was upon gender contrasts.
Abstract: This article reports the results of the re‐analysis of a substantial set of survey based quantitative data relating to food beliefs, practices and preferences. The particular focus of attention was upon gender contrasts. Several statistically significant differences between men and women were identified. These differences occurred in such areas as views on food and health, the ethical dimensions of food production and food selection, nutritional attitudes and choices, dietary change, food work and body image. Two distinctive patterns emerged, which the authors termed “virtuous” and “robust”, the former exhibiting attitudes more typical of women, and the latter attitudes more typical of men.

353 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a study based on a six-year survey of first year undergraduates and their consumption of red meat was carried out and found that the majority of vegetarians were women, although they were also the most of the sample Age, political inclination and social class appear to have little bearing on meat consumption.
Abstract: This article is based on a six‐year survey of first year undergraduates and their meat consumption The main focus is vegetarianism and the declining consumption of red meat over the past two decades The levels of meat consumption and avoidance were analysed by gender, father’s occupation, voting intention and the reasons given for reduction/avoidance The results found that the majority of vegetarians were women, although they were also the majority of the sample Age, political inclination and social class appear to have had little bearing on meat consumption There is also the suggestion that vegetarianism has reached a plateau A wide range of further studies is suggested

58 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 2004-Health
TL;DR: NHS Direct, the new telephone advice line, was designed to be more accessible, convenient and responsive to the public’s needs for health care, and in-depth interviews with male callers to the service reveal that they sought help in their roles as fathers, partners and on their own behalf.
Abstract: It has been suggested in the light of mortality and morbidity rates, and men's reluctance to seek medical help and advice, that there is a crisis in men's health. Little is known about men's experiences of using health care services, despite an emergent UK men's health movement. NHS Direct, the new telephone advice line, was designed to be more accessible, convenient and responsive to the public's needs for health care. In-depth interviews with male callers to the service, aged between 29 and 59, reveal that they sought help in their roles as fathers, partners and on their own behalf. Having used it once, they anticipated doing so again. Their learning about health matters, from both the formal structure and the informal agenda of the telephone consultation, suggests the potential of men's use of this service for 'normalizing' help seeking by men, and thereby for longer-term improvements in men's health.

29 citations


Cites background from "The nutritional health of the natio..."

  • ...…‘body project’ (Shilling, 1993), or ‘cult of physicality’, (in which exercise and rational dietary practices associated with the development of bodily strength and fitness are seen as the route to health), seems to be a particularly male phenomenon (Paxton et al., 1994; Goode et al., 1996)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Feb 1999-Appetite
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of the nutritional attitudes and practices of a sample of adults aged between 18 and 74 years was conducted to assess the extent to which it is possible to identify a set of coherent dimensions which underly the range of surface issues which figure consistently in the sociological literature.

16 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A simple dietary message is feasible and can improve overall dietary quality and support the need for a larger randomized controlled trial that is powered to detect the efficacy of a simplified dietary recommendation for dietaryquality and metabolic health.

14 citations


Cites background from "The nutritional health of the natio..."

  • ...Given that nearly half of all American adults report difficulty understanding and using health information [53], and a poor understanding of health information is associated with worse health outcomes [54], educational messages that are simple and linked to benefits of making behavioral changes may be the most effective in aiding behavioral change [55,56]....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Aetiology confronts two distinct issues: the determinant of individual cases, and the determinants of incidence rate: if exposure to a necessary agent is homogeneous within a population, then case/control and cohort methods will fail to detect it.
Abstract: Aetiology confronts two distinct issues: the determinants of individual cases, and the determinants of incidence rate. If exposure to a necessary agent is homogeneous within a population, then case/control and cohort methods will fail to detect it: they will only identify markers of susceptibility. The corresponding strategies in control are the 'high-risk' approach, which seeks to protect susceptible individuals, and the population approach, which seeks to control the causes of incidence. The two approaches are not usually in competition, but the prior concern should always be to discover and control the causes of incidence.

3,377 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, a prospective controlled study was carried out on 215 healthy adults attending a by-invitation coronary heart disease screening clinic in general practice, and the main finding was that patients' own assessment of their psychological distress was significantly increased three months after screening compared with that of controls, who showed a non-significant decrease.
Abstract: This study set out to determine whether screening can be psychologically harmful to healthy adults. A prospective controlled study was carried out on 215 healthy adults attending a by-invitation coronary heart disease screening clinic in general practice. The general health questionnaire was used as an indicator of recent psychological distress. Patients attending the screening clinic had significantly lower subjective psychological distress than an unscreened group of 225 age-matched controls, indicating that we may well be screening an already psychologically healthy sub-group. The main finding was that patients' own assessment of their psychological distress was significantly increased three months after screening compared with that of controls, who showed a non-significant decrease. It is concluded that there is a real risk of causing distress by screening healthy adults and that this possibility has largely been ignored by previous studies. Possible explanations and implications of these findings are discussed, particularly in the light of increased pressure from many quarters for more screening services to be set up in general practice.

92 citations