Nutritional knowledge and concerns about meat of elderly French people in the aftermath of the crises over BSE and foot-and-mouth

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare elderly people with young adults in France for nutritional knowledge and concerns about meat in the aftermath of the rises with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and foot-and-mouth disease. Between March and April 2001, 99 healthy elderly people and 93 younger adults living in France were interviewed. Most of the elderly and young participants knew that meat contains proteins but were unaware of the role of proteins in body metabolism. The elderly knew that meat also contains iron and vitamins and is necessary for growth and for physical activity. However, elderly people had little awareness of the importance of consuming meat and were convinced that they had to reduce meat consumption because of their lower physical activity. On the other hand, they knew more than younger adults about animal diseases and were less worried about ‘mad cow disease’. Thus, although the elderly people were confident about the safety of meat and recognised its nutritional properties, they did not consider it to be an essential food.

Introduction

Reduced lean body mass (sarcopenia) is a common feature of ageing, mostly from loss of muscle tissue. In men, the loss begins at the age of around 30 years, but it occurs more rapidly in women after the menopause (Cohn et al., 1980). Nutritional explanations of sarcopenia involve changes in whole body and muscle protein metabolism with age—in particular, the reduced efficiency of dietary protein utilization. Consequently, the recommended protein allowance may be slightly higher for elderly people than that for young people (Blumberg, 1997, Campbell et al., 1994, Cynober et al., 2000). Another reason for recommending protein intake by the elderly equal to or greater than by younger adults is to maintain efficient immune function, as this contributes to lower prevalence of infectious diseases (Walrand et al., 2001). Yet, despite the importance of adequate protein intake in older people, 25% of elderly men and women in France have a protein intake lower than the nutritional recommendations of 1 g kg⁻¹ d⁻¹ (Rousset et al., 2001, Cynober et al., 2000).

The source of protein in the diet is also important. Wheat proteins, for example, are used less efficiently than beef proteins (Young, Fajardo, Murray, Rand, & Scrimshaw, 1975). In elderly women during the fed state, dietary protein from animal sources induced a higher gain in whole body protein than did protein from plant sources (Pannemans, Wagenmakers, Westerterp, Schaafsma, & Halliday, 1998).

Eating behaviour depends partly on beliefs, attitudes and social norms about food in the society to which the eater belongs (Ajzen, 1988). According to Allport (1935), “attitudes determine for all people what they will see and they will hear, what they will think and they will do”. Thus, many attitudes may influence the consumption of beef, including nutritional beliefs and values, consciousness of the link between foods and health and concerns about diseases such as from animal sources. Alberti-Fidanza, 1984, Gilbert, 1986, Matsushita and Adachi, 2000 reported that elderly people generally have a low level of nutritional knowledge. For example, many of them did not know that fish, eggs, offal and rice are highly nutritious and 25% were unable to express an opinion on the most suitable foods for their age group. More recently, elderly people were shown to believe that they should eat less meat than younger adults because they believed they had a lower general nutritional requirement (Rousset et al., 2002). They did not know that their requirement for protein was equal to or higher than that of younger adults.

In addition to the underestimation of nutritional requirements, nutritional and health beliefs concerning meat are more often negative than positive. Red meat is thought to be fatty and unhealthy (Lea and Worsley, 2001, Holm and Mohl, 2000). For example, people have stated that “there are more nutrients in fresh vegetables than in a dead cow” and “even if meat is lean, the fat is there anyway”. Moreover, in France 27% of people considered meat and 21% considered fat as ‘the most dangerous nutrients or foods for health’, whilst only 2% thought the use-by-date important (Volatier, 2000). Thus, one of the reasons given by consumers for avoiding or reducing consumption of meat derives from the view that meat consumption is linked to heart disease or cancer (Lea & Worsley, 2001). Several recent studies have shown that elderly people are more health-conscious than younger adults (Kearney et al., 1998, Nestle et al., 1998, Roininen et al., 1999). The reasons behind this are suggested to be disease avoidance (Furst, Connors, Bisogni, Sobal, & Falk, 1996), death of family members, and life-style changes in the family (Edstrom & Devine, 2001). Conversely, Chapin (2001) showed that younger people take more health-risks than older people.

Besides the nutritional beliefs, the belief that food can contain poison or transmit diseases may affect food consumption. Recently, the safety of meat has become a major concern (Gallup, 1999). Establishment of a link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease in 1996 has given rise to additional fears. In Switzerland, this event led to a sudden reduction in beef consumption, particularly by women (Morabia, Bernstein, Heritier, & Beer-Borst, 1999). More recently in France, a survey indicated that beef consumption had decreased by 34% in December 2000 (Ofival, 2001). Thus, general concerns can lead to reduction in meat consumption, which is especially worrying in elderly people who are already eating small amounts of protein.

We assumed that, for any individual, having positive nutritional beliefs about meat promotes its consumption and, conversely, having false nutritional beliefs or concerns towards the transmission of animal disease to humans reduces meat consumption. As meat has generally been perceived as unhealthy and elderly people were particularly conscious of health and poorly informed on issues regarding nutrition, they are liable to have strong concerns about eating meat. Thus, the aim of the present study in France was to compare elderly people with younger adults for nutritional knowledge and concerns about meat in the aftermath of the crises over BSE and more recently foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).