مدى الاستفادة التغذوية والصحية لمرضى ارتفاع ضغط الدم من جدول الحقائق الغذائية على العبوات الغذائية بمنطقة وادي الشاطئ

Abstract

This study was conducted to know the extent of nutritional and health benefits of nutritional facts table on food packages by hypertensive patients in Wadi Al-Shati region. A questionnaire, based on Triple Likert scale, was used to collect data which were analyzed by SPSS program.

The results showed that the extent of nutritional and health benefits from the nutritional facts table is with an average of 61.65%. The study also reported that males benefit more than females. Compared to married participants, single participants recorded the highest benefits from the nutritional facts table. According to age, 18 – 29 benefited more than the other age groups.

It has also been noticed that the benefit degree increases as the educational level increases; the above-university educational qualification participants were the most benefited then comes the university qualification participants group. According to career, the results have showed that unemployed individuals had the highest benefits, followed by the engineers, then the teaching staff and the medical professionals. In terms of income, it has been noticed the higher the monthly income, the higher benefit degree. In addition, the findings of the study showed that the individuals who had high blood pressure disease for less than a year benefited more than the other subjects whereas the least were the individuals who had blood pressure for more than 10 year. According to body mass index, the most benefited from the nutritional facts table were those of normal weight, 62%. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire showed that most of the participants did not benefit from the nutritional facts table, and accordingly the study concludes that the participants may not have the ability to use the nutritional facts table.