We examined the effectiveness of two types of nutrition education, one based only on the theory of health behavior (HB), and the other (HB+GI) on the theory of health behavior (HB) combined with the glycemic index (GI). The study subjects were 41 undergraduate students divided into two groups: 20 students for the HB nutrition education, and 21 for the HB+GI nutrition education. Each group of research subjects was educated by the respective method for 5 months.
A comparison before and after nutrition education showed improved awareness and behavior of the students towards their diet. However, their awareness of good nutrition was improved much more than their behavior toward it, suggesting the further benefits of long-term education in order to improve eating habits.
A comparison between the HB and HB+GI groups showed differences in the degree of change in the subjects' behavior; for instance, we found that the food intake by the HB+GI group became more nutritionally proper. These results show that nutrition education based on the theory of health behavior resulted in a more nutritionally suitable food intake when combined with GI considerations. We propose that nutrition education incorporating the perspective of GI can motivate students toward achieving a nutritionally proper food intake.
