DISASTER-RELATED NUTRITION AWARENESS AMONG ADULTS IN TÜRKİYE

Abstract

Nutritional problems frequently occur during disasters due to limited access to safe food, clean water and appropriate food storage conditions.  Proper knowledge regarding nutrition before, during and after disasters may help reduce nutrition-related health risks and improve disaster preparedness.  In this study we aimed to evaluate disaster-related nutrition knowledge and practices among adults living on the European side of İstanbul, Türkiye and to identify any associations between these knowledge scores and demographic, anthropometric and dietary factors in order to inform efforts to improve preparedness in the study population.  This cross-sectional study was conducted during August-December 2025.  Subjects aged 19-65 years were recruited through face-to-face interviews conducted in universities, public areas and accessible community settings.  The minimum number of subjects calculated to be needed for the study was 200.  Data were collected using a structured questionnaire asking about demographic characteristics, dietary habits, a 24-hour diet recall and anthropometric measurements.  We assessed disaster-related nutritional knowledge with 18 researcher-developed questions asking about emergency food selection, food safety, food storage, hydration, infant feeding and nutrition for vulnerable groups during disasters.  Knowledge scores were calculated based on the percentage of correct responses.  Current diet was assessed using a 24-hour diet recall obtained by a trained dietitian and analyzed using Beslenme Bilgi Sistemi (BEBIS) software.  A total of 254 subjects were included in the study, 228 (89.8%) females.  The mean (±standard deviation) age of subjects was 27 (±11) (range: 19-65) years.  Male subjects had a significantly higher body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio than female subjects (p-value <0.05).  Diet was similar between males and females, although vitamin B2 intake was significantly lower among males and vitamin C intake was significantly higher among females (p-value <0.05).  The overall nutrition in disaster-related nutrition knowledge correct response percentage  was 59.1%.  When asked about the foods that should be included in an emergency kit, 15.4% of subjects in the 19-39 year age group and 33.3% of those in the 40-65 year age group answered correctly (p-value = 0.012).  62.7% of female subjects and 57.7% of male subjects provided the correct answer to the question regarding foods that should not be consumed at the onset of a disaster (p-value = 0.044).  Female subjects who were parents had a significantly higher percentage of correct answers (64.21%) than those who were not parents (58.49%) (p-value = 0.035) but there was no significant difference in male subjects (p-value >0.05).  Female subjects who regularly took medication had a significantly higher percentage of correct answers (62.43%) than those who did not (58.85%) (p-value = 0.020) but there was no significant difference in male subjects (p-value >0.05).  We found a significant negative association between waist circumference and percentage of correct answers to disaster-related nutrition knowledge questions among male subjects (p-value = 0.032) but not female subjects (p-value = 0.896).  We found a significant positive association among female between correct answers disaster-related nutrition knowledge and daily intake of potassium (p-value <0.001), magnesium (p-value = 0.006), iron (p-value = 0.038), vitamin B2 (p-value = 0.012) and vitamin B6 (p-value = 0.008) based on the 24-hour diet but in males we only found a sigificant assocition between correct answer and calcium (p-value = 0.039) and phosphorus (p-value = 0.025) intake.  In summary, the overall disaster-related nutrition knowledge among study subjects was only fair and was significantly associated with parental status, regular medication use, waist circumference and current dietary intake.  We conclude, there is a need to educate the study population regarding disaster-related nutrition.  Further studies are need to determine how best to educate the study population regarding this imporatnt issue in order to reduce risk for nutrition-related problems during disasters.