Educational messages on dairy nutrition help increase knowledge, purchasing and consumption of dairy products.

Although most Americans consume dairy products and many dairy products are growing in popularity, fluid milk consumption has seen a significant decline among American consumers since the 1960s. To reverse this trend and ensure that consumers consume adequate amounts of dairy in their diet, the dairy industry has developed educational materials to reach consumers through informative infographics, television and print advertisements, as well as social media.

But do these kinds of educational messages make a difference? A new study published in JDS Communicationsdemonstrates that when consumers know the nutritional benefits of dairy products, they purchase and consume more dairy products, including cheese, ice cream, yogurt and especially milk.

Lead researcher Stephanie Clark, Ph.D., who recently retired from the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, explained, “We set out to educate those who consume an insufficient amount of dairy products (less than three servings of dairy products). per day, according to The Dietary Guidelines for Americans) on various topics related to dairy nutrition, testing their retention of information and whether increasing their knowledge about dairy motivates the purchase and consumption of dairy products.

Clark and the research team conducted their study in three phases: a screening survey, nominal focus groups, and a final follow-up survey of volunteer adult participants. During the first phase, a total of 4,542 adults responded to the team’s 15-question screening survey.

Clark explained, “After the initial screening survey closed, we allocated a group of 195 participants to the nominal focus groups based on their interest in participating, lack of food allergies, and whether They reported consuming less than three servings. of dairy products per day.

Four infographics were developed to help educate research participants about food labels and dairy concepts: nutrition facts panels, lactose maldigestion, nine essential nutrients, and prebiotics and probiotics.

During the nominal focus group phase, facilitators administered a pre-survey to participants, then took them through the infographic lesson, before administering an ice cream acceptability test. Three samples of ice cream were tasted and the facilitators explained the nutritional facts panels and ingredient statements for each, paying particular attention to differences in lactose and added sugar between the samples.

Clark noted, “Unlike traditional focus groups, where data is collected from interacting panelists, our goal with the nominal format – involving limited interactions between participants – was to effectively provide educational information to participants.

After the ice cream test, participants received a post-survey and another survey a month later.

The study results show that participation in the nominal focus groups had a significant and positive effect on the purchase and consumption of dairy products between the pre-survey and the one-month follow-up survey.

Clark explained: “The average purchase of dairy products has increased to 4.4 servings per week, an increase of 26%. The average consumption of each dairy product has also increased: 23% for cheese, 20% for ice cream, 26% for yogurt and a staggering 53%. increase for milk.

In total, participants’ overall dairy consumption increased to eight servings per week, a jump of 35%.

“The result regarding milk consumption stood out in our results, with every focus group seeing their milk consumption increase by at least one serving per week.”

Despite these positive results, the research team was quick to point out that participants were not meeting the recommended 21 servings of dairy products per week. They highlighted the importance of additional research to understand the long-term impacts of education on dairy in the diet, or whether improvements to educational materials or dissemination could strengthen their impact.

Overall, this study demonstrates that carefully crafted educational messages about the benefits and nutritional attributes of dairy products can positively influence consumer behavior, leading to increased purchases and consumption of dairy products.

More information:
Jack Myers et al, Dairy Nutrition Educational Messages Help Increase Knowledge, Purchasing and Consumption of Dairy Products, JDS Communications (2023). DOI: 10.3168/jdsc.2023-0417

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