Little is known about consumer attitudes to
the concept of early
nutrition programming and this has implications for how the results from the
project are publicised. Theme 4 investigated the possibilities for
disseminating information acquired during the project life time among
consumers. The main objectives are listed below:
To determine the information
sources used by parents to acquire knowledge about matters related to infant
care and nutrition in selected EU countries.
To evaluate the accuracy of available
information on early nutritional programming.
To assess parental knowledge about links
between early nutrition and childhood/adult health and how this varies with
age, gender, education, socio-economic status, health status, health-related
behaviours (diet, exercise, smoking), and cultural background.
To explore the relationship between
infant feeding and weaning behaviours in the first year of life and parental
knowledge about links between early nutrition and childhood/adult health.
To explore differences
between countries in parental knowledge about links between early nutrition and
childhood/adult health and their origins in healthcare systems and/or
socio-cultural factors.
To identify the scope for targeted
promotions to improve knowledge about the links between early
nutrition and lifelong health.