Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract Introduction: Metabolic syndrome is a collection of metabolic disorders, which can increase the
mortality rates from 20% to 80%. One of strategies to control the disease is the attention to the
dietary habits. Compliance with proper diet is one of the major challenges in the management
of this syndrome. Due to this fact, that the patient is responsible for the adjustment of the
daily diet, it is important to identify the factors affecting the adoption of nutritional self-care.
Besides, self-efficacy is considered as an important pre-requisite for this behavior because it
acts as an independent part of the basic skills. This study was carried out with the purpose of
determining the predictive role of perceived self-efficacy on macronutrients intake in women
with metabolic syndrome. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study with correlational
nature in 2012, there were 329 patients with the metabolic syndrome. The patients were covered
by Isfahan oil industry medical centers and selected by a systematic method. In order to gather
information on perceived self-efficacy, the questionnaires constructed by the researchers were
used and the validity and reliability had been confirmed by the calculation of content validity
indexand content validity ratio values and the indices of internal consistency and stability of the
tool. The 24-h dietary recall questionnaire was also used for 3 days in order to investigate the
nutritional behavior. The obtained data from the dietary recall questionnaire were analyzed by
the N4 nutritional software. In this study, AMOS software version 16 was used for the structural
model fitting by using the generalized least squares method besides the SPSS statistical
software version 16. Results: These averages obtained from the results: 2512.37 kcal energy
intake, 70.95 g protein, 420 g carbohydrates and 61.61 g of fat per day. The mean of perceived
self-efficacy score was 47.89. The Pearson correlation coefficient was indicated a significant
inverse relationship between the perceived self-efficacy and intake of macronutrients in the
metabolic syndrome. The most direct effect of the coefficient of perceived self-efficacy was
observed on fat and carbohydrate intake (P < 0.05 and β = −0.592) and (P < 0.05 and β =
−0.395). Conclusions: The amount of energy,
carbohydrate, fat and protein were more than
the recommended dietary allowances levels
and the amount of self-efficacy was moderate.
The present study showed that perceived
self-efficacy provided a useful framework to
understand and predict adherence to dietary
self-care behaviors in patients with metabolic
syndrome.

Abstract Background: The purpose of this study was to assess nutritional intakes of female aerobic athletes
in two different socio-economic classes in city of Isfahan. Materials and Methods: The participants
of this analytical study were 99 female aerobic athletes aged between 15 and 50 years old who
were randomly sampled (50 females in low economic region and 49 females in high economic
region). The demographic details were collected by a questionnaire, and anthropometric indexes
including height, weight, and waste circumference were measured using a tape measure and a
scale. They filled out the 24-hour food recall questionnaire for two consecutive days in order to
obtain their nutritional information. To analyze the data, Nutritionist 4 and SPSS18 software were
used. Results: The means of energy intake in high and low regions were 1479.19 ± 561.86 and
1300.68 ± 498.354 kcal, respectively. There was no significant difference in terms of energy intake
between these two groups (P = 0.98). The means of protein intake in low and high socio-economic
classes were 17.41 ± 5.85 and 54.48 ± 6.62, respectively, and no significant differences were
observed between these two regions (P = 0/606). The means of carbohydrate intake were 61.85
± 9.76 and 54.48 ± 6.62 in the low and high socio-economic classes with a significant difference
between them (P < 0.001). The mean of carbohydrate intake in the low socio-economic class was
considerably higher than that in the high socio-economic class. The means of fat intake were 23.88
± 8.24% and 30.07 ± 6.68% in the low and high socio-economic classes, respectively, and the
means of fat intake in the high socio-economic region was significantly higher than that in the low
socio-economic region (P < 0/001). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the intakes
of fat and carbohydrate were significantly different in the two different socio-economic regions in
city of Isfahan. This difference could be attributed to different food patterns in these two regions.