Dietary behaviors of rural residents in northeastern China: implications for designing intervention information and targeting high-risk population

Background Dietary behavior is a pivotal modifiable determinant in reducing the occurrence of obesity/overweight and chronic non-communicable diseases. Improving the dietary behavior of rural residents in China is imminent due to the poor performance of their dietary behavior. Nutrition knowledge and health literacy are considered as elements that are linked intimately to healthy dietary behaviors but lack research in the Chinese setting. Purpose The study is designed to explore the relationship between nutritional knowledge, health literacy and dietary behaviors and to analyze the performance under different demographic characteristics. Methods A face-to-face survey of 400 rural residents on their nutrition knowledge, functional health literacy and dietary intake of five food categories consisting of 32 items was conducted based on a validated questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, difference test including ANOVA, t -test and non-parametric test, and multivariate linear regression were used for data analysis. Results The results indicate that declarative nutrition knowledge, individuals’ information application capacity, and dietary behaviors, especially the intake of fruits, dairy and beans, and vegetable are not ideal and requires improvement. Male, elder, low-income, unmarried, and low-education populations performed significantly worse and were the high-risk group. Procedural nutrition knowledge, information access capacity, information understanding capacity, and information application capacity have remarkable effects on better dietary behavior. Conclusion This study provides evidence-based guidance for prioritizing information and populations for healthy dietary interventions.