The hesitancy in the nutritional prevention
Keywords:
Vaccine Hesitancy, Infodemic, Misinformation, Nutritional prevention hesitancy, Healthy Dietary Habits, Public Health StrategiesAbstract
Our letter discusses the concept of ‘Nutritional Prevention Hesitancy’, comparing it to the well-studied phenomenon of ‘Vaccine Hesitancy’. Both hesitancies can be fueled by ‘infodemics’, the rapid spread of accurate and inaccurate information that can lead to public confusion and mistrust in authoritative sources. Drawing parallels between the two, the text highlights that nutritional prevention hesitancy can result in individuals not adopting evidence-based nutritional strategies, potentially leading to poorer health outcomes. The text emphasizes the critical role of diet in preventing diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer, and underscores the need for multifaceted strategies to combat misinformation and promote healthier dietary habits.
References
1. Alonzo E, Bonaccorsi G, Cairella G, et al. The “Nutritional Prevention” within Italy’s National Prevention Plan 2020-25. Ann Ig. 2023 Apr 21. doi: 10.7416/ai.2023.2569. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37082929.
2. MacDonald NE; SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants. Vaccine. 2015 Aug 14; 33(34): 4161-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.036. Epub 2015 Apr 17. PMID: 25896383.
3. Pertwee E, Simas C, Larson HJ. An epidemic of uncertainty: rumors, conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy. Nat Med. 2022 Mar; 28(3): 456-9. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01728-z. Epub 2022 Mar 10. PMID: 35273403.
4. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dietary Supplements in the Time of COVID-19. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. 2022. Available on: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/COVID19-HealthProfessional/ [Last accessed: 2023 May 25].
5. Starcevic V, Schimmenti A, Billieux J, Berle D. Cyberchondria in the time of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. 2021 Jan; 3(1): 53-62. doi: 10.1002/hbe2.233. Epub 2020 Nov 23. PMID: 33363277.
6. Bendau A, Petzold MB, Pyrkosch L, et al. Associations between COVID-19 related media consumption and symptoms of anxiety, depression and COVID-19 related fear in the general population in Germany. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2021 Mar; 271(2): 283-91. doi: 10.1007/s00406-020-01171-6. Epub 2020 Jul 20. PMID: 32691135.
7. Arora A, Jha AK, Alat P, Das SS. Understanding coronaphobia. Asian J Psychiatr. 2020 Dec; 54: 1028304. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102384. Epub 2020 Sep 6. PMID: 33271693.
8. Naeem SB, Bhatti R. The Covid-19 ‘infodemic’: a new front for information professionals. Health Info Libr J. 2020 Sep; 37(3): 233-9. doi: 10.1111/hir.12311. Epub 2020 Jun 13. PMID: 32533803.
9. Sweeny K, Melnyk D, Miller W, Shepperd JA. Information avoidance: Who, what, when, and why. Rev Gen Psychol. 2010; 14(4): 340-53. doi: 10.1037/a0021288.
10. Eiser JR, Bostrom A, Burton I, et al. Risk interpretation and action: A conceptual framework for responses to natural hazards. Int J Disaster Risk Reduc. 2012; 1: 5-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2012.05.002.
11. Sharot T, Sunstein CR. How people decide what they want to know. Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jan; 4(1): 14-
19. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0793-1. Epub 2020 Jan 13. PMID: 31932690.
12. Acquisti A, Brandimarte L, Loewenstein G. Secrets and likes: The drive for privacy and the difficulty of achieving it in the digital age. J Consumer Psychol 2020; 30(4)4: 736-58. https://doi.org/10.1002/ jcpy.1191.
13. Collier ES, Oberrauter LM, Normann A, et al. Identifying barriers to decreasing meat consumption and increasing acceptance of meat substitutes among Swedish consumers. Appetite. 2021 Dec 1; 167: 105643. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105643. Epub 2021 Aug 10. PMID: 34389377.
14. Satija A, Bhupathiraju SN, Spiegelman D, et al. Healthful and Unhealthful Plant-Based Diets and the Risk 718 Letters
of Coronary Heart Disease in U.S. Adults. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Jul 25; 70(4): 411-22. doi: 10.1016/j. jacc.2017.05.047. PMID: 28728684.
15. World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a global Perspective. Continuous Update Project Expert Report 2018. Available on: dietandcancerreport.org [Last accessed: 2023 May 25].
16. Knowler WC, Barrett-Connor E, Fowler SE, et al; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 7; 346(6): 393-403. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012512. PMID: 11832527.
17. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), Eds. The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2020: transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. Food & Agriculture Org; 2020. Available on: https://www.who. int/publications/m/item/state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-2020 [Last accessed: 2023 May 25].
18. Riiser K, Helseth S, Haraldstad K, Torbjørnsen A, Richardsen KR. Adolescents’ health literacy, health protective measures, and health-related quality of life during the Covid-19 pandemic. PloS One 2020 Aug 28; 15(8): e0238161. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238161. PMID: 32857806.
19. Mizia S, Felińczak A, Włodarek D, Syrkiewicz-Świtała M. Evaluation of Eating Habits and Their Impact on Health among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 10; 18(8): 3996. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18083996. PMID: 33920229.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.