O-26 An assessment of the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding ultra-processed foods among residents of Trinidad and Tobago: a social media study

Methods: An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. A snowball sample of participants was selected to represent a quota sample of participants. The sample size was determined by the number of participants who submitted a completed questionnaire (512 respondents). The data was analysed using SPSS version 29. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. One-way ANOVA was used to test the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. 

Results: A total of 512 social media user participated in the study. The overall nutrition knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were 7.09 ± 3.87, 3.40 ± 1.59, 12.50 ± 2.96, respectively. Most participants were somewhat knowledge- able (79–60%) on 8 out of the 11-nutrition knowledge ques- tions and not knowledgeable in 3 out of 11 nutrition knowledge questions. Many individuals (n=406), 79.3%) had a favourable attitude, 43 (8.4%) had a negative attitude and 63 (12.3%) moderate attitude. Two hundred and six (n=206) participants states that product packaging has a significant influence on their choice to purchase UPF. There was a statistically significant difference between knowledge and sex (male and female) as  demonstrated  by  one-way ANOVA (F=12.56, p<0.001). 

Conclusion: The study revealed that social media users in Trinidad and Tobago have a limited understanding of proper nutrition and generally lack awareness regarding the classification of foods according to their level of processing. However, more research using other sampling methods and larger sample sizes may be required to establish the findings general validity.