Our kids, like the rest of us, are bombarded 24/7 with nutrition-related news and advice and food marketing pitches, but how much real nutrition knowledge do they possess, and, anyway, does nutrition knowledge make any difference in behavior, in the kinds of food choices kids make?  In focus groups and surveys conducted in North Carolina, Florida, Maryland, and Montana, we've asked kids to tell us what they know about nutrition and how, if at all, they use that knowledge to make decisions about what to eat. In this presentation, you'll see the results of some of that research, in the often-surprising data from thousands of surveys and the often-humorous and always illuminating excerpts from focus group videotapes, and, best of all, you'll learn that we can do something about kids' nutrition knowledge -- and their eating behaviors.

Session Objectives:

Participants will gain a better understanding of how to test for kids’ nutrition knowledge.

Participants will learn that kids’ self-reported nutrition knowledge often does not correspond with actual knowledge when measured objectively.

Participants will see evidence that suggests that exposure to nutrition education and improved nutrition knowledge correlate positively with better nutrition choices.