Introduction: Nutrition and food literacy are emerging as vital concepts in health promotion and chronic disease prevention. However, lack of consensus regarding their definitions and conceptual dimensions limit their utility. The current study reviewed existing definitions and conceptual models of nutrition and food literacy to develop integrated definitions and a comprehensive model. Methods: Electronic databases (e.g., PubMed, EMBASE) were searched for publications that included a definition and/or conceptual model of nutrition literacy and/or food literacy. Two independent coders screened each retrieved article for inclusion. Results: We reviewed 2556 titles and abstracts, with 520 shortlisted for full review. We identified 10 original definitions of nutrition literacy, 15 of food literacy, and five conceptual models. While nutrition literacy definitions focused on theoretical knowledge, and capacities to access, understand, appraise and apply nutrition information guidelines and principles to make dietary decisions, food literacy definitions also included practical skills and behaviors related to acting on nutrition and food systems information to make dietary decisions. Definitions were further categorised as having either an individual, or population-based focus. Conclusion: Using these findings, a comprehensive integrated definition and conceptual model of nutrition and food literacy was developed, that captured individual, interpersonal, community, and system-level factors. The resultant model can help guide the development of assessment tools and interventions to improve diet quality.

Introduction: Nutrition literacy is emerging as an important construct within nutrition and dietetic literature; however, the utility and psychometric properties of available nutrition literacy instruments is poorly understood. This review appraised the psychometric properties and content of instruments used to assess nutrition literacy. Methods: Electronic databases were searched for publications from 1990 to 2017 that described the development and/or testing of nutrition literacy instruments. Two coders independently screened each article for inclusion. Psychometric properties of included instruments were abstracted into evidence tables, and appraised using a structured methodological framework. Key domains included in nutrition literacy instruments were also abstracted. Results: We reviewed 2556 new titles and abstracts, with 520 shortlisted for full review. Six original instruments were identified and underwent evaluation. Instruments predominantly assessed reading, comprehension and numeracy (i.e., functional nutrition literacy) related to nutrition information, rather than broader domains identified in definitions and conceptual models (e.g., interactive and critical nutrition literacy). Scoring categories were poorly defined. Descriptions of the development and/or testing of instruments to demonstrate adequate psychometric properties varied across studies. Conclusion: Available nutrition literacy measures are limited in their capacity to assess broader domains of nutrition literacy. There is significant room for the development and evaluation of psychometrically sound instruments that capture the multidimensionality of nutrition literacy. Development of comprehensive measures of nutrition literacy has the potential to identify gaps in an individual’s nutrition literacy capacities, to inform the design of intervention and educational strategies that address gaps, and to improve nutrition knowledge and dietary practice.

Introduction: Recent efforts supporting children’s dietary behaviors suggest the importance of food literacy (FL) which is a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses food-related knowledge, skills, and behaviors. To date, FL has been largely informed by adult research, therefore our objective was to develop and validate a FL measurement tool (FLT) for children. Approach: A four-phase process was utilized to develop the FLT for 4th-5th grade children: 1) Child focus groups to inform the preliminary FLT; 2) Content validity by food systems experts using a two-round modified Delphi panel; 3) Pilot tests (December 2016); and 4) A test-retest reliability study (planned for May 2017). Results: Themes from the focus groups (N=6; 31 children) provided the foundation for the FLT sections: supply chain, food safety, gardening, cooking, and healthy eating. Experts were contacted for the content validity panel (N=23), of which 16 completed round 1 and 13 completed round 2. The average content validity ratios for the FLT were 0.40 and 0.70 for round 1 and round 2 respectively, which was integrated with experts’ qualitative feedback to determine changes to the FLT. The pilot study in children (N=38) informed changes to the FLT length, question format, wording, and level of difficulty. Reliability results are forthcoming. Discussion: Formative research, content validity, and pilot testing were critical in the development of the FLT. Results from the reliability study (expected N=150) will further demonstrate the utility of this tool in improving food-based education and programs, identifying policy needs for specific populations, and designing more effective interventions.

introduction Screen time and food marketing messages are associated with unhealthy eating and childhood obesity. Interventions aimed at reducing media time often have limited success and impact due to the ubiquity of food advertising. approach FoodMania: Kids and Food In a Marketing Driven World is a 6-week family media literacy and nutrition program based on the Message Interpretation Processing (MIP) model. The program aims to improve family nutrition behaviors by increasing cognitive appraisals of food advertising and facilitating parent-child discussion about food-related media messages. Dyads of one parent and one youth, aged 9-14 years, from five Washington State counties served as control (N=84), or intervention (N=105). Each dyad completed a pretest and a posttest, followed by 6-month and 12-month delayed posttests. results Participating in FoodMania resulted in significant increases in negative parental mediation and child-initiated discussion about food marketing and nutrition. Skepticism, critical thinking toward source and content, and advertising efficacy were also significant. Parents in the family-based intervention reported a significantly better ratio of more-healthy to less-healthy foods in the home, higher social support from their children to purchase fruits, and more use of food labels. Youth reported discussing nutrition label information with their parents significantly more often and eating more fruit and vegetables the previous day than their control group counterparts. discussion A family-based, nutrition-focused media literacy intervention based on the MIP model can help mitigate the environmental effects of unhealthy food messages by fostering parent-child communications and connections between nutrition and media literacy.