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Poor diet, including inadequate vegetable intake, is a leading risk factor for noncommunicable disease. Culinary and nutrition education provided to trainee and practising health and education professionals is an emerging strategy to promote improved dietary intake, including vegetable consumption. We evaluated the impact and feasibility of an online culinary medicine and nutrition (CM/CN) short course for health, education and vegetable industry professionals. The course aimed to improve participants' skills and confidence to prepare vegetables, knowledge of evidence-based nutrition information and recommendations for improving vegetable consumption and diet quality.A pre-post study consisting of two separate groups participating in two course rounds recruited practising professionals (n = 30) working in health; community, adult and/or culinary education; and the vegetable industry. Evaluation assessed diet quality, vegetable consumption barriers, cooking and food skill confidence, nutrition knowledge and process measures.Seventeen participants (68%) completed the programme. Pre- to postintervention statistically significant increases in vegetables (M 1.3, SD 2.2), fruit (M 1.6, SD 3.1), and breads and cereal (M 1.1, SD 1.7) intakes were observed. Statistically significant increases and large effect sizes for mean food skill confidence scores (M 8.9, SD 15.4, Cohen's d 0.56) and nutrition knowledge scores (M 6.2, SD 15.4, Cohen's d 0.83) were also observed pre- to postintervention.The short online course was feasible and improved diet quality, food skill confidence and nutrition knowledge. Online CM/CN education for practising professionals represents a promising area of research. Future research involving a larger study sample and a more rigorous study design such as a randomised control trial is warranted.

An Australia wide cross-sectional online survey examined facilitators and barriers of health and education professionals to providing culinary nutrition (CN) and culinary medicine (CM) education and behaviour change support in usual practice, in addition to identifying continuing professional development (CPD) needs in this domain.Survey items included socio-demographic characteristics, cooking and food skills confidence, nutrition knowledge (PKB-7), fruit and vegetable intake (FAVVA) and CPD needs. Data were summarised descriptively.Of 277 participants, 65% were likely/somewhat likely to participate in CN CPD. Mean (SD) cooking and food skill confidence scores were 73 (17.5) and 107.2 (24), out of 98 and 147, respectively. Mean PKB-7 score was 3.7 (1.4), out of 7. Mean FAVVA score was 98 (29), out of 190.Gaps in knowledge and limited time were the greatest modifiable barriers to providing CM/CN education and behaviour change support in practice. Health and education professionals are interested in CPD conducted by dietitians and culinary professionals to enhance their knowledge of CM/CN and behaviour change support.

Background Culinary medicine (CM) or culinary nutrition (CN) education provided to professionals with the capacity to influence behaviour change is an emerging strategy to promote diet quality and reduce the burden of diet related chronic disease in adults. The purpose of this scoping review was to synthesise current research describing CM/CN education provided to or by health, education and culinary professionals, or students of these disciplines. Methods Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was used. Eleven electronic databases were searched in March 2019. Included studies were: (i) nutrition, health or lifestyle programs with a CM/CN component (ii) study participants or programs facilitated by people working or training in health, community and/or adult education, or culinary roles where facilitator training was described (iii) reported in the English language (iv) published from 2003. Results A total of 33 studies were included. Nineteen studies delivered programs to general population groups and were facilitated by health professionals and/or health university students. Fourteen studies delivered CM/CN training to health professionals or students. Studies reported changes in participants' culinary skill and nutrition knowledge (n=18), changes in dietary intake (n=13), attitudes and behaviour change in healthy eating and cooking (n=4), competency in nutrition counselling and knowledge (n=7). Conclusions Further research examining effectiveness of CM/CN programs, and that describe optimal content, format and timing of programs is needed. Research evaluating the impact of training in CM/CN to education and culinary professionals on healthy cooking behaviours of their patients/clients is warranted. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Aim: While diet quality has declined globally, the promotion of cooking skills as a potential target to counter the decline has been proposed. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between food and cooking skills and diet quality in Australian adults. Methods: A sample of 910 Australian adults completed an online cross-sectional survey to evaluate their level of cooking and food skills confidence, food related psychological variables, diet quality using the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS) and sociodemographic characteristics. Analysis of variance with post hoc analysis, Pearson's correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted using IBM SPSS V25, with statistical significance set at P < .05. Results: Older respondents and females reported higher levels of both cooking and food skills confidence compared to younger and male participants, all P < .001. Cooking and food skills confidence scores were highly correlated (r = .70, P < .001), but weakly correlated with ARFS (r = .22, P < .001; r = .31, P < .001, respectively). Participants with higher diet quality scores had greater cooking and food skills confidence and they consumed less takeaway food (P < .001 and P = .006, respectively). Sixteen percent of the variance in ARFS was accounted for, with age, sex, food creativity and food skills confidence contributing the most variability. Conclusions: Strategies to improve food skills confidence could potentially enhance diet quality and variety to a greater degree than focusing on cooking skills alone. However, development of both skills sets should be encouraged within education programs and targeted to differing aspects of diet quality. Tailoring interventions to specific population groups with low confidence in their skills, including younger adults and males, may facilitate individuals in making healthy food choices.

Issue addressed Portion size guidance strategies have been suggested as an important component of weight management; therefore, the Health Star Rating (HSR) front-of-pack labels could influence consumers' portion-size decisions. However, this has not been investigated to date. This study aims to evaluate whether presenting energy content information and HSRs influences portion size self-selection of specific foods and meals. Methods Adults were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups in this randomised controlled experiment. Each participant was given either a kJ/100g food label or a HSR label, or was given no information on nutrient composition. They were then asked to serve themselves an adequate portion of breakfast cereal (Kellogg's Nutri-Grain), fruit salad and chocolate, plus a three-component meal (chicken, fries and mixed vegetables). Portion serves and meal weights were compared between each experimental group using ANOVA and the discretionary foods were also compared with the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE). Results Neither the kilojoule nor HSR information influenced the self-served portion size of foods or meal components. Mean self-served portion size of the discretionary foods were significantly greater than the standard serving sizes as specified in the AGHE. Conclusion Although food labels have the potential to assist consumers in making product choices, this study indicates that presenting nutrition information does not affect portion size decisions in young adults. So what? Strategies that assist consumers to choose appropriate portion sizes should be developed as a weight management tool.

Large portion sizes contribute to weight gain in western societies. Portion-size interventions, aids and education can be effective in helping prevent weight gain, but consumers are unsure what appropriate portions are and express confusion about existing guidelines. A lack of clarity about suggested serving size recommendations is a major barrier to food portion-size control. Therefore, standardised measurement units and unambiguous terminologies are required. This position paper summarises the evidence regarding the impact and importance of portion-size education and estimation, and outlines strategies for improving consumer understanding and application of this through the development of an international food measurement system and a range of appropriate portion control tools. In this position paper, the authors call for the standardisation of food volume measurement terminologies, units, implementation recommendations, as well as consumer education. The target audience for this paper includes nutrition and behavioural researchers, policy makers, and stakeholders who potentially influence and implement changes in national food measurement systems, which in turn impact on consumer choice.