Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya
Traditional ethnic groups in Kenya are unlikely to eat a healthy and diversified diet due to many individual and environmental factors, which may result in poor health status. Therefore, the determinants of eating behavior need to be identified prior to any public health action. For this study, focu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2791 |
| _version_ | 1797444613948047360 |
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| author | Daniela Penafiel Celine Termote Patrick Van Damme |
| author_facet | Daniela Penafiel Celine Termote Patrick Van Damme |
| author_sort | Daniela Penafiel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Traditional ethnic groups in Kenya are unlikely to eat a healthy and diversified diet due to many individual and environmental factors, which may result in poor health status. Therefore, the determinants of eating behavior need to be identified prior to any public health action. For this study, focus group discussions (15 in total) in a double-layer design were conducted, comprising adult men and women from 5 villages of Vihiga County. Questions explored knowledge; barriers and cues to action toward eating a healthy diet containing a variety of foods; including indigenous food species. We found that healthy eating concepts are known; however, several taboos that restrict food consumption reduce local diet quality in terms of diversity. Nutrition education is a cue to action. We identified several individual and environmental determinants of eating behavior in the studied communities. Public health action should focus on supporting healthy eating behaviors and refining some taboos’ beliefs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:15:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-04b0c40b03934c549da7006c485be39f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:15:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-04b0c40b03934c549da7006c485be39f2023-11-30T21:36:54ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432022-07-011414279110.3390/nu14142791Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western KenyaDaniela Penafiel0Celine Termote1Patrick Van Damme2Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo, Samborondom 092301, EcuadorAlliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00054 Rome, ItalyFaculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 00 Prague, Czech RepublicTraditional ethnic groups in Kenya are unlikely to eat a healthy and diversified diet due to many individual and environmental factors, which may result in poor health status. Therefore, the determinants of eating behavior need to be identified prior to any public health action. For this study, focus group discussions (15 in total) in a double-layer design were conducted, comprising adult men and women from 5 villages of Vihiga County. Questions explored knowledge; barriers and cues to action toward eating a healthy diet containing a variety of foods; including indigenous food species. We found that healthy eating concepts are known; however, several taboos that restrict food consumption reduce local diet quality in terms of diversity. Nutrition education is a cue to action. We identified several individual and environmental determinants of eating behavior in the studied communities. Public health action should focus on supporting healthy eating behaviors and refining some taboos’ beliefs.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2791dietdeterminants of eatingenvironmenttraditional foodstaboos |
| spellingShingle | Daniela Penafiel Celine Termote Patrick Van Damme Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya Nutrients diet determinants of eating environment traditional foods taboos |
| title | Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya |
| title_full | Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya |
| title_short | Traditional Individual and Environmental Determinants of Healthy Eating in Vihiga County, Western Kenya |
| title_sort | traditional individual and environmental determinants of healthy eating in vihiga county western kenya |
| topic | diet determinants of eating environment traditional foods taboos |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2791 |
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