Attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland / Actitudes determinantes del consumo de pescado en España y Polonia

Objective: To identify attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland, and to discuss the potential impact of local healthy eating policies in the observed reported frequency of fish consumption. Design: Repeated survey analysis , multivariate linear regression analysis. Data collected through a questionnaire that included socio-demographics, self-reported anthropometrics, as well as validated items of attitudinal and involvement scales, validated items of knowledge about fish, and behaviours (reported fish consumption). Setting: Consumer survey in Poland and Spain, 1800 respondents in 2004 and 1815 respondents in 2008. Results: In Poland, intentions to consume more fish and reported fish consumption increased in the four years period between both surveys, together with objective knowledge regarding fish. In Spain with the exception of subjective knowledge, fish consumption at home and total fish consumption, all attitudinal and involvement scale changes were statistically significant. Multivariate regression revealed that age had a small but significant positive effect in all scales, except for satisfaction with life, fish consumption out of home and subjective health. Satisfaction with life and subjective knowledge were significantly determined by household size. The differences between countries were statistically significant for involvement with health and fish, for intention to eat fish, the general attitudes and objective knowledge regarding fish. Conclusions: In Poland, a more positive attitude towards fish, and increased levels of knowledge about this product were observed and could partially be attributed to national policy efforts. In Spain, an interesting feature was observed: more people reported choosing fish when eating out in 2008 compared with respondents in 2004. Such a trend suggests that people slowly move towards healthier choices even in the out of home eating (AU)

Objetivo: Identificar los factores determinantes de las actitudes hacia el consumo de pescado en España y Polonia, y discutir el impacto potencial de las políticas locales de alimentación saludable en la frecuencia registrada del consumo de pescado entre los participantes. Diseño: Análisis de encuestas repetidas y análisis de regresión lineal multivariante. Los datos fueron recogidos a través de un cuestionario que incluía información sociodemográfica, medidas antropométricas auto-valoradas, así como elementos de validación de escalas validadas de actitudes, de involucramiento, y de los conocimientos acerca del pescado, y los comportamientos (autovalorados) de consumo de pescado. Marco: Encuesta de consumidores en Polonia y España, 1.800 encuestados en 2004 y 1.815 los encuestados en 2008. Resultados: En Polonia, las intenciones de consumir más pescado y el consumo de pescado reportado aumentaron en el período de cuatro años entre las dos encuestas, junto con el conocimiento objetivo sobre el pescado. En España, a excepción del conocimiento subjetivo, el consumo de pescado en el hogar y el consumo total de pescado, todos los cambios en las escala de actitudes hacia el pescado y de involucramiento fueron estadísticamente significativas. El análisis de regresión multivariantes reveló que la edad tiene un pequeño efecto positivo, pero significativo en todas las escalas, excepto las de satisfacción con la vida, la de consumo de pescado fuera del hogar y la escala de salud subjetiva. El escore de satisfacción con la vida y el conocimiento subjetivo sobre pescado fueron determinados de manera significativa por el tamaño del hogar. Las diferencias entre países son estadísticamente significativas para involucramiento con la salud y el pescado, con la intención de comer pescado, la actitud general y el conocimiento objetivo sobre el pescado. Conclusiones: En Polonia, una actitud más positiva hacia el pescado, y los mayores niveles de conocimiento acerca de este producto observados pueden atribuirse en parte a los esfuerzos de las políticas nacionales de alimentación saludable. En España, una característica interesante se observó: más personas reportaron haber consumido pescado fuera del hogar en 2008 que en 2004. Esta tendencia sugiere que en España los consumidores se dirigen lentamente hacia opciones más saludables, incluso al comer fuera de casa (AU)

Attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland.

OBJECTIVE: To identify attitudinal determinants of fish consumption in Spain and Poland, and to discuss the potential impact of local healthy eating policies in the observed reported frequency of fish consumption. DESIGN: Repeated survey analysis , multivariate linear regression analysis. Data collected through a questionnaire that included socio-demographics, self-reported anthropometrics, as well as validated items of attitudinal and involvement scales, validated items of knowledge about fish, and behaviours (reported fish consumption). SETTING: Consumer survey in Poland and Spain, 1800 respondents in 2004 and 1815 respondents in 2008. RESULTS: In Poland, intentions to consume more fish and reported fish consumption increased in the four years period between both surveys, together with objective knowledge regarding fish. In Spain with the exception of subjective knowledge, fish consumption at home and total fish consumption, all attitudinal and involvement scale changes were statistically significant. Multivariate regression revealed that age had a small but significant positive effect in all scales, except for satisfaction with life, fish consumption out of home and subjective health. Satisfaction with life and subjective knowledge were significantly determined by household size. The differences between countries were statistically significant for involvement with health and fish, for intention to eat fish, the general attitudes and objective knowledge regarding fish. CONCLUSIONS: In Poland, a more positive attitude towards fish, and increased levels of knowledge about this product were observed and could partially be attributed to national policy efforts. In Spain, an interesting feature was observed: more people reported choosing fish when eating out in 2008 compared with respondents in 2004. Such a trend suggests that people slowly move towards healthier choices even in the out of home eating.

Health-related beliefs and consumer knowledge as determinants of fish consumption.

BACKGROUND: Despite scientific evidence on the positive effects of seafood consumption on human health, the consumption of fish remains below the recommended intake levels for the majority of Europeans. The present study aimed to explore cultural differences in potential determinants of fish consumption: consumers' knowledge and health-related beliefs, as well as the relationship between those variables, socio-demographics and fish consumption frequency, using data from five European countries. METHODS: A cross-sectional consumer survey was carried out in 2004 with representative household samples from Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Spain. The sample consisted of 4786 respondents, aged 18-84 years, who were responsible for food purchasing and cooking in the household. RESULTS: European consumers had a very strong belief that eating fish is healthy. Consumers' belief that eating fish is healthy, their interest in healthy eating and objective fish-related nutrition knowledge, positively, but only weakly, influenced fish consumption frequency. Subjective knowledge was found to be a stronger predictor of fish consumption than the previously noted factors. Age and education contributed, both directly and indirectly through knowledge, to explain fish consumption behaviour. However, the path coefficients in the estimated model were relatively low, which indicates that fish consumption frequency was also determined by factors other than health-related beliefs and consumers' knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study suggest that communication should focus on health-related benefits other than fish consumption alone. Communicating that eating fish is healthy and stressing the health benefits of fish alone, as is still commonly performed (e.g. in generic promotion and other types of public information campaigns) will be insufficient to achieve higher levels of compliance with fish consumption recommendations.