2022 Volume 80 Issue 3 Pages 158-168
Objective: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between health literacy, food group consumption, and nutritional intake among community-dwelling adults in Japan.
Methods: Study participants were community-dwelling adults aged 20–74 years, recruited from July to August 2018 in Ebetsu city, Hokkaido, Japan. The Communicative and Critical Health Literacy scale was used to obtain data on health literacy. Food group consumption and nutritional intake were assessed using a validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire. A total of 1,607 participants (708 men and 899 women) were eligible to participate. Participants were classified into quartiles based on their health literacy scores. The relationship between health literacy, food group consumption, and nutritional intake was examined by analysis of covariance.
Results: Participants with high health literacy scores had a higher intake of vegetables other than green and yellow ones and a lower Na/K ratio than those with a low score. Male participants with high health literacy scores had higher total energy and copper intake than those with a low score. Female participants with high health literacy scores had higher intakes of green and yellow vegetables, beverages, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, vitamins (B1, B2, B6, and C), niacin, and folate than those with a low score.
Conclusions: We concluded that a high health literacy score is associated with a high intake of vegetables and other nutrients. Improving health literacy among community-dwelling adults may be beneficial for increasing vegetable intake.