Enhancing Knowledge Translation in Nutrition Through a Healthy Eating Blog

Enhancing Knowledge Translation in Nutrition Through a Healthy Eating Blog: a Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of an evidence-based healthy eating blog on dietary behaviors of mothers

Mothers randomised to the experimental group were exposed to one weekly blog post for 6 months. Blog posts focus on the improvement of dairy products as well as vegetables and fruits consumption targeting five food skills categories: (1) knowledge about food, nutrition and cooking; (2) planning of healthy meals, and for including children to develop their food skills; (3) conceptualizing outcomes; (4) mechanical techniques for food preparation; (5) perception of food characteristics. Each post included a step-by-step recipe developed by the research team and featuring dairy products, vegetables and fruits. Recipes were described textually and also using pictures. Twenty-six posts were created over the six-month intervention. Participants randomised to the control group were not exposed to the healthy eating blog. The primary outcome is the daily intakes of dairy products, vegetables and fruits. The secondary outcomes are mothers' food skills and body weight.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Have Internet access, have at least one child aged two to twelve years, are mostly in charge of the planning and preparation of family meals, consume less than two servings a day of dairy products and/or less than seven servings a day of vegetables and fruits.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Take medications that could affect food intake, have eating disorders, are dieting, are currently pregnant or lactating.