Influence of media information on nutritional practices of residents of Somolu local government, Lagos state

Abstract

Background: Nutritional practice is the dietary intake, eating pattern or usual nutrient intake of an individual.Information is one of the most prominent social revolutions that have led to a boom of social media in recent time. Media is the collective communication outlets or tools that are used to store and deliver information or data.
Objective: The study examined the influence of media information on nutritional practices of the residents of Somolu Local Government Area, (LGA) Lagos State
Methods: The study adopted descriptive survey design. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 371 residents of Somolu LGA. A structured, validated and pre-tested questionnaire tagged influence of media information on nutritional practices (IMINPS) was administered to elicit information: on the demographic characteristics, sources of nutrition information, frequency of social media usage; and the extent to which media information influence nutritional practices. Data were coded and analyzed using SPSS version 20 and the data subsequently expressed as frequencies means and percentage. Mean of 2.50±was used as a criterion for accepting or rejecting of the study questions
Results: The study revealed that family (3.06), television (3.06), phone (3.08), ipad (3.09), food labels (3.11) video clips (3.10), radio jingles(3.24) and Internet (3.19)were the major sources of nutrition information (NI) while prints (2.79), face book (2.95), whatsApp (3.25), twitter (2.89), radio (2.66) and television (3.03) were the frequently used social media devices. However, the study was not able to ascertain the influence of media information on nutritional practices because only 6 variables out of the11had mean rating of > 2.50.
Conclusion: Media information did not influence nutrition practices as the utilization and sourcing of information did not translate to nutrition practices. It is recommended that science base and relevant internet sites should be patronized to inform and encourage nutrition practices and impact on quality of life.

Keywords: Nutritional practices