Hierarchy of nutritional knowledge that relates to the consumption of a functional food

Objective: We assessed how consumption of a functional food relates to different combinations of nutritional knowledge. Methods: American and Canadian subjects were asked by mail survey about their level of knowledge about soy and were assigned to one of four groups based on whether they had 1) no knowledge of soy, 2) attribute-related knowledge of soy, 3) consequence-related knowledge of consuming soy, or 4) both types of knowledge. Content analysis and analysis of variance were performed. Results: The level of nutritional knowledge about soy did not necessarily influence how much people liked soy but was related to how much people consumed soy. In particular, consumers who were able to link attribute-related knowledge about soy to consequence-related knowledge about consuming soy were much more likely to consume soy than were those who only had one type of knowledge (average P < 0.007). Conclusions: Nutritional knowledge most likely correlates with consumption when people have attribute-related knowledge of the food and consequence-related knowledge of how it will benefit them. It is not the amount but the type of knowledge that matters. Educational strategies based only on attribute-related knowledge of functional foods and healthy products ("passing the nutrition quiz") may not effectively encourage the actual consumption of the food. Health care professionals and dietitians must link food attributes with personal health consequences when communicating to their patients.