The present study explored associations between food choice motives, attitudes towards and intention to adopt personalised nutrition, to inform communication strategies based on consumer priorities and concerns.

A survey was administered online which included the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) and items assessing attitudes towards and intention to adopt personalised nutrition.

Nationally representative samples were recruited in nine EU countries (n 9381).

Structural equation modelling indicated that the food choice motives ‘weight control’, ‘mood’, ‘health’ and ‘ethical concern’ had a positive association and ‘price’ had a negative association with attitude towards, and intention to adopt, personalised nutrition. ‘Health’ was positively associated and ‘familiarity’ negatively associated with attitude towards personalised nutrition. The effects of ‘weight control’, ‘ethical concern’, ‘mood’ and ‘price’ on intention to adopt personalised nutrition were partially mediated by attitude. The effects of ‘health’ and ‘familiarity’ were fully mediated by attitude. ‘Sensory appeal’ was negatively and directly associated with intention to adopt personalised nutrition.

Personalised nutrition providers may benefit from taking into consideration the importance of underlying determinants of food choice in potential users, particularly weight control, mood and price, when promoting services and in tailoring communications that are motivationally relevant.

To investigate whether fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake in 11-year-olds, and social–environmental correlates of F&V intake such as parental modelling and encouragement, family food rules and home availability, differ according to general parenting styles in Belgium, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Cross-sectional study.

Primary schools in four countries.

Pupils and one of their parents completed questionnaires to measure F&V intake, related social–environmental correlates and general parenting styles. The sample size was 4555 (49·3 % boys); 1180 for Belgium, 883 for The Netherlands, 1515 for Portugal and 977 for Spain. Parenting styles were divided into authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent and neglectful.

No differences were found in F&V intake across parenting styles and only very few significant differences in social–environmental correlates. The authoritarian (more parental encouragement and more demands to eat fruit) and the authoritative (more availability of fruit and vegetables) parenting styles resulted in more favourable correlates.

Despite earlier studies suggesting that general parenting styles are associated with health behaviours in children, the present study suggests that this association is weak to non-existent for F&V intakes in four different European countries.

To examine the changes in Portuguese household food availability from 1990 to 1995.

Using the DAta Food NEtworking (DAFNE) classification scheme for nutritional and socio-economic variables, data from the Portuguese Household Budget Surveys collected in 1989/90 and 1994/95 were analysed. The mean availability (quantity person−1 day−1) for the total population, by locality and by level of education of the household head, was computed for each of the main food and beverage groups.

Portugal, 1989 to 1995.

Although still among one of the countries with high availability of cereals, pulses, fish and seafood and olive oil, Portugal is gradually moving away from the traditional ‘Mediterranean diet’. Between 1989 and 1995, the availability of complex carbohydrates and olive oil was reduced, while the availability of protein-supplying food groups increased. Considerable disparities can be observed by locality and by the level of education of the household head. Households in urban areas and of higher socio-economic status are the main actors of the changes in ‘traditional’ food habits.

Although these findings are based on household food availability rather than consumption, they indicate the direction of the changes taking place in the Portuguese diet and can be used effectively by agriculture specialists, nutrition experts and policy makers.

To investigate the internal consistency of the scales and the test–retest reliability and predictive validity of behaviour theory-based constructs measuring personal, social and environmental correlates of fruit and vegetable intake in 10–11-year-old children.

Test–retest with one-week interval.

Five European countries: Norway, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium.

Three hundred and twenty-six children completed the questionnaire during class hours.

For the total sample across all countries, the test–retest reliability was good to very good (intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) >0.60) for 12 out of the 15 fruit constructs and also for 12 out of the 15 vegetable constructs. Acceptable ICCs, ranging between 0.50 and 0.59, were found for the remaining constructs. Test–retest reliability was comparable across countries. Only in Portugal were some significantly lower ICCs found for some constructs (knowledge and barriers related to fruit, general self-efficacy related to fruit and vegetables) compared with the other countries. Cronbach's α values were moderate to high (range 0.52 to 0.89) with the exception of the general self-efficacy scale, which had a value below 0.50 for both fruit (α = 0.42) and vegetables (α = 0.49). Spearman correlations with intake ranged between -0.16 and 0.54 for personal determinants and between 0.05 and 0.38 for environmental determinants. Compared with other studies, predictive validity can be considered moderate to good.

The questionnaire provides a reliable, valid and easy-to-administer tool for assessing personal, social and environmental factors of potential influence on fruit and vegetable intake in 10–11-year-olds.