Nutritional Literacy Measurement among Iranian Elderly Population

Background & Objective: One of the criteria for determining health is health-promoting behaviors. A high level of nutrition literacy is an important factor for differences in diet and nutritional behaviors which promotes health. Therefore, the present study investigates nutrition literacy status and its related factors in the older adults in Tehran. Materials & Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic (correlational) study. The study population included 270 older adults of Tehran city selected using random cluster sampling in Tehran in 2018. Data collection was carried out using a 28-item nutrition literacy scale (NLS) and demographic characteristics questionnaire. Then, data analysis was conducted using SPSS ver. 16 and descriptive statistics and Chi-square, Kruskal–Wallis, Spearman correlation coefficient and multiple regression tests.  Results: In this study, the majority of the older adults were in the group aged 60–64 years (41.9%). According to NLS, 52.2% of the older adults had inadequate nutritional literacy, 37% had borderline nutritional literacy, and only 10.7% of them had adequate nutrition literacy (p<0.001). Also, there was a significant relationship between nutrition literacy and age, sex, level of education, and occupation. Conclusion: The majority of Iranian elderly had inadequate and borderline nutritional literacy, and only one-tenth of them had adequate nutrition literacy. Therefore, due to low nutritional literacy and its relationship with age, the elderly need to receive simple and understandable information to communicate and understand health information to make appropriate decisions, and it needs more attention from health workers, health workers and physicians.