Via practica 2/2022

Food and nutritional literacy – part I

The incidence of obesity among adults and adolescents is on the rise in Slovakia and it is currently higher than the EU average. This is partly due to poor eating habits and low levels of physical activity. Nutritionally poor nutrition is one of the main factors that support the occurrence of chronic diseases. Due to the great importance of diet and nutrition in the prevention of chronic diseases, food and nutrition literacy is an important part of overall health literacy. Food and nutrition literacy is more than just a collection of academic knowledge about food and nutrients. It includes the ability to understand the information received, the will and motivation to accept positive dietary changes, as well as adequate action in accordance with the acquired knowledge, in a way that is in line with the implementation of nutritional goals and the promotion of good health. The basic categories of food and nutritional literacy include knowledge about food and nutrition, eating skills, as well as the ability to apply healthy nutrition in practice with the creation of the proper eating decisions and habits. Recently, this literacy also includes knowledge of external (ecological) and socioeconomic factors affecting diet and nutrition. The basic and key facts about a rational diet and „healthy“ nutrition are given by the World Health Organization (WHO). In its scientific opinion (2010), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended that all European countries transform nutrition-based dietary Part of nutritional literacy is also understanding the nutrition information on food packaging. The Nutri-Score system is a promising way of 5-level-colour nutrition labelling on the front-of-pack of the foods in the European Union. At present, this labelling is voluntary. The European Commission plans to approve the mandatory labelling of all packaged foods with the Nutri-Score logo by the end of 2023. recommendations into scientifically supported food-based dietary guidelines. These dietary recommendations should include educational visual aids in the form of „healthy“ plates or „healthy“ food pyramids, including illustrative guides to appropriate food portions.

Keywords: food, nutritional literacy, diet, nutrition, pyramid, nutritional data, Nutri-Score