Nutrition Communication — Inspiring Consumers to Better Health
By D. Milton Stokes, RD
Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 7 No. 6 P. 40

Consumers are deluged with nutrition and health messages every day. How can you make your messages the ones they will heed?

Communicating effective nutrition and health messages to consumers is both an art and a science. These days, consumers are bombarded from all directions—television, newspapers, magazines, and the Web—with a barrage of nutrition information. Based on our education and training in food and nutrition, we can help clarify conflicting messages and eliminate consumer confusion. Yet, while dietetics professionals possess the food and nutrition expertise to serve as accurate and credible sources, we may need some assistance to precisely craft messages that are science-based and also consumer-friendly and actionable.

An Opportunity to Deliver
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) regularly conducts a survey of consumer nutrition trends, called Nutrition and You, to measure the consumer pulse. Since 1991, ADA researchers have polled people to discover what they think constitutes “good nutrition” and gauge current hot topics through the public eye. Analyses of findings illustrate how opinions and beliefs change over time and how consumers practice health behaviors.

The most recent version of Nutrition and You, conducted in 2002, stated that to obtain nutrition information, 72% of those surveyed reported turning to the television as their primary source. Magazines were the next most widely utilized at 58%, 33% referred to newspapers, 18% to the radio, and 13% to the Internet. Only 12% relied on their physicians for this type of information, and a scant 1% cited dietitians. (Note: Participants could be relying on dietitians from television, magazines, newspapers, and elsewhere, given we are involved in the media, but this cannot be confirmed.) Clearly the media play a powerful and influential role in getting the word out to consumers, and we want to ensure that we’re part of the process.

While transmitting countless messages to consumers each day, the media help shape public belief and practices, and if you think about it, that’s what we do as RDs. We usually work with clients and patients on an individual basis, helping them make informed decisions. So imagine the possibilities for RDs who could actively participate in the media. Influencing the nutrition information environment—whether by pitching story ideas, working with editors and journalists to provide quotes and interpretation of the latest research, or appearing on television—would help us transmit health messages consumers could use.

Making Messages Consumer-Friendly
Based on findings from the ADA’s Nutrition and You survey, a substantial 63% stated that they continually hear about foods to avoid and how not to eat, but they aren’t getting the message of what’s good for them. Consumers may view nutrition as highly technical and overly restrictive. Picture how many times you have introduced yourself as the RD and someone covers his or her plate in the cafeteria line, apologizes profusely for ordering something in particular, or worse, simply tunes you out. Consumers do not respond favorably to negative messages of what not to do. Frankly, some consumers may believe that nutrition messages are not all too encouraging.

What we see here is an emphasis on ineffective messages. By the same token, it’s an opportunity to make an impact. Lola O’Rourke, MS, RD, spokesperson for the ADA, says, “Messages which focus too much on what not to eat usually don’t work.” She explains that people associate pleasure with food, and that’s obviously an important part of life. Jeanne P. Goldberg, PhD, RD, professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, and director of the Center on Nutrition Communication, agrees. “We must take time to experience food for the enjoyment it brings,” says Goldberg. She says we should focus less on viewing food through a therapeutic lens and more on taste appeal and its other properties. To be clear, O’Rourke and Goldberg are not issuing a license to indulge nonstop; rather, their goals embrace reducing the conflict resulting from ineffective, negative messages.

We are poised to help consumers enjoy foods they love while emphasizing eating for better health. Saying what we want to say in a way they want to hear the information first opens the door of communication. Once the channels are established and we can see through the eyes of consumers, then we can deliver more useful information to further improve lifestyles.

Effective Communication — Applying it to Practice
The International Food Information Council (IFIC), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, works to communicate food and nutrition information to a variety of groups, such as consumers, health professionals, journalists, educators, and the government. The IFIC’s efforts have included research with consumers to determine the most effective methods, including specific language and terminology, to help spread the word about healthy eating and food safety. Its Web site—www.ific.org—includes a section devoted to the results of its communications work in the field plus comprehensive guidelines, recommendations, and resources for action.

A fundamental tenet of communicating is to keep your audience in mind. This helps communicators craft messages appropriately suited for the target group. To attain success, messages must focus on consumers as the end user of the information. Researchers at the IFIC have demonstrated this practice in their program, “New Nutrition Conversation with Consumers,” which is based on a marketing model.

Step-by-Step
The marketing model, or the message development model as it’s also known, comprises five steps to create successful messages. Each step introduces a concept, and then the subsequent step builds on it. In step 1, nutrition professionals must find out what motivates an audience into action. By understanding your audience’s motivators and barriers, communicators can begin thinking of messages in terms most fitting to consumers.

Asking questions is one way to accomplish this step. The information sought extends beyond traditional variables such as race, gender, and income; instead, it delves into areas that motivate consumers, such as family structure, values, life goals, and biases. Obtaining this data is accomplished through talking with people and focusing on listening. As dietetics professionals, we do this every day when patients see us for help with their diets, when we manage foodservice operations and employees, and when we plan community-based health interventions.

Step 2 focuses on developing beginning messages based on what was learned from step 1. The first step in the marketing model should reveal how consumers feel about food and nutrition. You will identify their sensitivities and then be mindful of them while drafting initial concepts for education. With the consumer in mind, your messages should empower and enable them to accomplish the desired outcome.

Next, in step 3, the IFIC emphasizes the crucial role testing has with your audience. And by testing, you should simply ask questions. Probe the intended audience or target group to ask what your message means to them. Examine whether they feel motivated. Your purpose is to verify that the listeners can fit the new message, or directive, into their daily lives. If not, then they will likely tune it out, feeling encumbered. Messages that are meaningful will have a greater impact and compel consumers to act.

Step 4 is an opportunity to fine-tune messages and return to the drawing board if necessary. But that’s OK. As RDs, we must know whether our services (ie, our messages, the education we provide) are on track or missing the mark. That way, we can reengineer where necessary, which may include a minor word substitution here or there. Consult step 2 of the model and work your way back through it.

The marketing model’s final step involves quantitative validation of your key concepts with larger groups. Survey the audience to determine their receptivity level. You’ll find it useful to know whether the reactions were positive, negative, or neutral. Determine any audience connotations to your message and establish whether they align with your intent. If something remains unclear, restructure and begin anew.

Mastering Your Message
Keeping the focus on consumers’ needs, draft a message or statement geared to support the recipients. (Refer to the sidebar on selected messages.) Remember, be positive. Most consumers perceive excessive coverage of what not to do and what not to eat. Saying “Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that” has failed consumers.

Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, an ADA spokesperson, underscores this point. “Messages that are too vague, too complex, too scientific, too boring, too long, or too negative are big flops.” And that’s understandable. Sass, by practicing step 3 of the model, identifies with consumers who are too busy to decipher information that just does not fit into their daily lives. “Consumers want to hear what they can do and how, but it must be practical,” she explains.

Furthermore, we should teach improvement rather than perfection. Often we must redirect consumers away from striving for perfection because this establishes a foundation for failure. Information that reinforces dichotomous thinking may support and perpetuate unhealthy eating behaviors. Take what you know to be their needs—based on what motivates and what hinders—and transform it into a positive report or directive. Sass incorporates this technique in her own private practice and in her media work as a national spokesperson. “Making it concise, fun, memorable, positive, and actionable,” she says, “is how to reach consumers.

“For example, instead of saying, ‘consuming whole grains can reduce your risk of several chronic diseases, including heart disease and certain cancers,’ I might say, ‘whole grains are hot right now. Swap white bread for rye, or choose popcorn as a snack, and you just cut your disease risk,’” Sass says. With this, she illustrates specific steps for improvement and how they affect health without sounding too clinical or imprecise. Furthermore, Goldberg says it’s the small steps that make such a profound difference in the end. “Keeping the small additions while consistently adding others creates a new diet. It adds up.” Incorporating minor changes gradually transforms someone’s overall intake, she says.

Next, it is vital to measure your audience’s reaction. Whether your message is “Enjoy three servings of low-fat dairy daily” or “Have fun with dinner by using chopsticks instead of a fork,” determine how it’s perceived by your audience. This requires testing the message, either formally or informally. Ask consumers what your message means to them, whether it has any motivational influence, and whether the teaching point aligns with their values and desires. Explore possible meanings and connotations of the message to ensure that it comes across as intended. For instance, the chopsticks example may suggest that consumers should play with their food when the original intent was to foster slower eating in populations who usually (and adeptly) eat too fast with forks.

Engaging in this type of open-ended dialogue will tell you whether you have captured consumers’ ears and crafted a message that resonates with them. Examine whether consumers’ needs and psychological factors were considered. A message that does not test well can be easily reconciled based on findings from your open-ended dialogues. The results of your message testing could direct you to completely overhaul the message. This learning is essential. You want to build something that works for and with consumers.

The Consumer Is King
There is no one better equipped to provide consumers with meaningful and inspiring food and nutrition messages than dietetics professionals. Practicing the marketing model the IFIC demonstrates is your opportunity to use language or terminology that persuades consumers to your line of thought and compels them to better health. This includes presenting messages in a straightforward manner and in language that’s jargon-free. Relevant, “real-life” messages that illustrate behavior change achieve this aim. Moreover, constructing them from a positive angle with emphasis on clear benefit that results from the new action is more likely to cultivate healthier behaviors. Everyone needs to know what’s in it for him or her to determine whether the message—a recommendation, directive, tip—applies.

— D. Milton Stokes, RD, is the chief dietitian for Sodexho at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City. He’s also managing partner of Culinary Nutrition Consultants, Inc.

Three Outlets to Reach Consumers
Once you have decided to get involved with the media, you’ll want to do your homework. The International Food Information Council (IFIC) has a host of comprehensive tools dietitians can use to generate successful media work that’s beneficial to consumers. With these tools, you will be on your way to a thriving media presence.

In the section called Sharpen Your Skills (available at www.ific.org/tools/skills.cfm), the IFIC illustrates what they call the 3 Ps of communication: publishing, presenting, and primetime. As the name suggests, publishing is all about how to write. The IFIC’s primer explains how to craft interesting, clear, informative, and concise messages that work well in the media. For those of you with plans to create presentations, this section covers everything you need to know to make a positive impact—like how to manage stage fright and surviving the question-and-answer session. And finally, there’s primetime, which is a section devoted to developing strong hooks for selling televised segment ideas to producers, targeting newsworthy stories, and how to prepare useful sound bites.

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