Food Group Categories of Low-income African American Women

doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2010.02.011

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

Volume 43, Issue 3, May–June 2011, Pages 157-164

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2010.02.011 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

Describe lay food group categories of low-income African American women and assess the overlap of lay food groups and MyPyramid food groups.

Design

A convenience sample of African American mothers from a low-income Chicago neighborhood performed a card-sorting task in which they grouped familiar food items into food groups.

Setting

One-on-one interviews in a neighborhood community center.

Participants

Twenty-eight African American mothers.

Main Outcome Measure

A hierarchical taxonomy of food groups for each participant, represented as a matrix of distances among food items in the individual sort of each participant.

Analysis

Cultural consensus analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and coding of food group category labels and sorting justifications.

Results

Consensus analysis revealed a consistent cultural model of lay food groups among the women. Lay food groups were systematically different from MyPyramid food groups. Lay food groups were more influenced by how food items are prepared or when and how food items are eaten than are MyPyramid food group categories.

Conclusions and Implications

Nutrition messages framed using lay food group categories of low-income African Americans may be more effective for that population than messages using MyPyramid food group categories.

Introduction

Only 10% of Americans consume diets that correspond to the United States Dietary Guidelines, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index.1, 2 Among Americans, low-income African Americans have the lowest Healthy Eating Index scores as well as the highest prevalence of obesity.1, 2, 3 Low-income African Americans could substantially decrease their risk of many chronic diseases by following dietary guidelines.¹ African Americans, particularly those with lower incomes, face broad economic and political barriers to eating healthfully, such as the high cost of healthful food and its lack of availability in African American neighborhoods.4, 5 In addition to access barriers, lack of nutritional knowledge is another cause of poor dietary behavior among disadvantaged populations.6, 7, 8

Effective communication of dietary guidelines has the potential to improve dietary behavior and reduce chronic disease among low-income African Americans. Communication is most effective when messages are framed in terms of the pre-existing conceptual framework of the target audience.⁹ The MyPyramid food guidance system is the tool developed by the United States Department of Agriculture to communicate the Dietary Guidelines to Americans.¹⁰ MyPyramid communicates the Dietary Guidelines by recommending a specific number of daily servings of 5 food groups—grains, vegetables, fruit, milk, and meat/beans—and discretionary calories. Although MyPyramid food groups reflect the nutritional properties of food,¹¹ research suggests that lay food categories reflect social, personal, environmental, and cultural factors.12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Differences between lay food groups and MyPyramid food groups could serve as a barrier to the understanding and implementation of dietary guidelines for some lay audiences.

The design of maximally effective nutrition messages for low-income African Americans requires a better understanding of their pre-existing beliefs and concepts about food and health. To decrease the cognitive burden of learning nutrition information, nutrition messages should use pre-existing food concepts whenever possible. Understanding food group categories of low-income African Americans is an essential first step in designing nutrition messages that are easily comprehensible and actionable to that population. To the authors' knowledge, the current paper is the first to describe lay food group categories used by low-income African American women.

Section snippets

Participants

Eligible participants were women who were caretakers of at least 1 child under the age of 18 and living in a low-income, predominantly African American neighborhood of Chicago. Participants were recruited by flyers posted in schools and daycare centers in the community and by word of mouth. In total, 28 subjects participated in the current study. The project was reviewed and approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board with an expedited review, and oral consent was

Participant Agreement

The CCM showed high consensus among participants on the food group sorting task. Factor 1, which represents agreement across participants (ie, the cultural model), explained 56% of the variance on the task. Factor 2 explained 4.7%. This first-to-second factor ratio of 11.9:1 satisfied the CCM criterion for consensus, which specifies that the ratio of the first to the second factors should be at least 3:1. The second criterion for consensus was that participants have a consensus score (factor 1

Discussion

This study described the food group categories used by low-income African American women. Consensus analysis showed that women in this study shared a common “cultural model” of food groups. There was substantial overlap between MyPyramid and lay food groups, as well as systematic differences. Differences suggest that lay and MyPyramid food group categories are organized according to distinct criteria.¹⁵ Although MyPyramid categories are based on the macronutrient content of food items, lay food

Implications for Research and Practice

The authors hypothesize that nutrition messages that promote healthful eating behavior will be understood, remembered, and used better when explicitly connected to the pre-existing conceptual framework of the target audience. Findings suggest that the pre-existing conceptual framework used by participants in the current study represents food items in terms of social dimensions rather than nutritional dimensions. This culturally and psychologically salient conceptual framework is likely to be

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by funding from the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC). The authors would like to thank Cynthia Williams and The Sinai Community Institute for help in recruiting participants and use of space for interviews, Sylvia Koneman for help with data collection and analysis, and Kathryn Keim, Jennifer Ventrelle, Lynda Powell, and anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts.

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To assess how mothers classify foods and how their eating practices interact with these classifications, with special attention to meanings and uses given to ultra-processed foods.
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Classifications were based on context (ie, a time or a situation in which the food is eaten) and foods’ healthiness. Five food groupings based on mothers’ classifications were defined: (1) main meal foods, (2) fruits and fruit juices, (3) convenient foods, (4) leisure foods, and (5) canned sardines. Ultra-processed foods were classified differently from non-ultra-processed foods and considered unhealthy, consumed on special occasions or when there was no time or desire to cook.
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^†: Dr. Lynch was affiliated with the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University at the time this study was completed.

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Research ArticleFood Group Categories of Low-income African American Women

Abstract

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Main Outcome Measure

Analysis

Results

Conclusions and Implications

Introduction

Section snippets

Participants

Participant Agreement

Discussion

Implications for Research and Practice

Acknowledgments

Appetite

Am J Prev Med

Prev Med

J Nutr Educ Behav

Appetite

Cogn Psychol

J Nutr Educ

Cognition

Cogn Psychol

J Am Diet Assoc

Cognit Psychol

Cog Psychol

J Am Diet Assoc

J Nutr Educ Behav

Research Article
Food Group Categories of Low-income African American Women