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Healthy diet in primary care: views of general practitioners and nurses from Europe

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 59, pages S77–S80 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Background:

Most of the national colleges of general practitioners (GPs) do not have their own dietary/nutritional tools, and GPs and nurses do not have the time, knowledge, or skills to advise their patients about desirable dietary practices.

Objective:

To assess the usefulness of a simple and practical guide on healthy diet to be used by European GPs and nurses.

Design:

A postal survey was mailed to 171 GPs and nurses from 12 European countries to obtain information about the usefulness of a guide on healthy diet developed by EUROPREV.

Results:

The perception of health professionals is that the main source of information on healthy diet for the population was the media. In all, 95% of GPs and nurses reported that the guide was useful; 93, 95, and 82% reported that the concepts were concise, easy to understand, and realistic, respectively. Also, 77% reported that the type of counselling recommended was feasible and could be applied, 94% reported that the implementation measures proposed could be effective and 88% reported that the Traditional Mediterranean Diet Pyramid is useful, but some concerns about the content were mentioned.

Conclusions:

GPs and nurses from Europe think that a practical guide on healthy diet developed by EUROPREV could be used to advise patients in primary care, although the Traditional Mediterranean Diet Pyramid should be modified.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the general practitioners and nurses for their time spent in reading the guide on healthy diet and answering the questionnaire. We also thank the support of Spanish Program of Prevention and Health Promotion of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, and the support of the Public Health Division of the Catalan Department of Health. There are no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Piñeiro R, Brotons C, Bulc M, Ciurana R, Drenthen T, Durrer D, Godycki-Cwirko M, Görpelioglu S, Kloppe P, Lionis C, Mancini M, Martins C, Mierzecki A, Pichler I, Pullerits L, Sammut M R, Sghedoni D, Sheehan M and Thireos E A: The EUROPREV network includes the following individuals and institutions: Mary Sheehan (Irish College of General Practitioners), Ton Drenthen (Dutch College of GPs), Revaz Tataradze (Georgia Association of GPs and FPs), Artur Mierzecki, Maciek Godycki-Cwirko (The College of Family Physicians in Poland), Mario R Sammut (Malta College of Family Doctors), Eva Jurgova (Slovak Society of General Practice), Elena V Frolova (St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Study), Liivia Pullerits (Estonian Family Doctors Association), Carlos Martins (Portuguese Association of GPs), Mateja Bulc (Slovenian Medical Association), Sirkka Keinanen-Kiukkanniemi (Finish College of GPs), Jasna Vucak (Croatian Association of Family Physicians), Cecilia Björkelund (Swedish College of GPs), Hava Tabenkin, Eleizzer Kitai (Israel Association of Family Physicians), Ruta Radzeviciene (Lithuanian Association of GPs/Family Physicians), Mehmet Ungan, Süleyman Görpelio∂lu (Turkey Family Physicians Association), Christos Lionis, Eleftherios A Tireos (Greek Association of GPs), Frans Govaerts, Leo Pas, André Franck (Scientific Society of Flemish GPs), Maxime Mancini, Domenique Durrer (Swiss Association of GPs), Donatella Sghedoni (Center for Study and Research in General Practice-Italy), Ingrid Pichler (Austrian Society of GPs and Family Medicine), Valia Markou (General Practitioners of Cyprus), Carlos Brotons, Ramon Ciurana, Pilar Kloppe, Rosa Piñeiro, Antonia Sanchez, and Maria Ruiz (Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine).

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, Barcelona, Spain

    R Piñeiro, C Brotons, R Ciurana & P Kloppe

  2. Slovenian Medical Association, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    M Bulc

  3. Dutch College of General Practitioners, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    T Drenthen

  4. Swiss Association of General Practitioners, Lichtensteig, Switzerland

    D Durrer & M Mancini

  5. College of Family Physicians in Poland/Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

    M Godycki-Cwirko & A Mierzecki

  6. Turkey Family Physicians Association, Antalya, Turkey

    S Görpelioglu

  7. Greek Association of General Practitioners, Thessaloniki, Greece

    C Lionis & E A Thireos

  8. Portuguese Association of General Practitioners, Lisbon, Portugal

    C Martins

  9. Austrian Society of General Practitioners and Family Medicine, Austria

    I Pichler

  10. Estonian Family Doctors Association, Tartu, Estonia

    L Pullerits

  11. Department of Family Medicine, University of Malta, Malta/Malta College of Family Doctors, Malta

    M R Sammut

  12. Center for Study and Research in General Practice, Milano, Italy

    D Sghedoni

  13. Irish College of General Practitioners, Dublin, UK

    M Sheehan

Authors
  1. R Piñeiro
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  2. C Brotons
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  3. M Bulc
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  4. R Ciurana
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  5. T Drenthen
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  6. D Durrer
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  7. M Godycki-Cwirko
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  8. S Görpelioglu
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  9. P Kloppe
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  10. C Lionis
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  11. M Mancini
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  12. C Martins
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  13. A Mierzecki
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  14. I Pichler
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  15. L Pullerits
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  16. M R Sammut
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  17. D Sghedoni
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  18. M Sheehan
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  19. E A Thireos
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on behalf of EUROPREV network

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C Brotons.

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Piñeiro, R., Brotons, C., Bulc, M. et al. Healthy diet in primary care: views of general practitioners and nurses from Europe. Eur J Clin Nutr 59 (Suppl 1), S77–S80 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602177

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