Online Nutrition Education Videos Teaching How to Use Herbs and Spices to Improve Diet Quality

Poor diet quality is a major modifiable risk factor for many preventable chronic diseases that account for about 11 million deaths yearly.1 The 2022 White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health addressed the need to improve dietary intake to improve population health.2 Strategies to improve diet quality that consider key determinants of food choice are needed. Important factors to elicit dietary changes include improving the flavor of healthy foods and increasing their affordability.3 Adding herbs and spices to foods can help decrease the total fat content without reducing the overall liking of adults and children.3,4 Cultural-culinary differences can change the liking of various foods, and thus, understanding preferences can offer insight for developing strategies to reach many consumers.5 Moreover, given the importance of familiarity with foods being positively associated with sensory qualities (appearance, aroma, taste, and texture), research is needed to evaluate the acceptability of modified familiar foods (with herbs and spices).6 Although traditional, face-toface nutrition education improves knowledge and diet behaviors, online programs can be more accessible, cost-effective, and have a broader reach.7,8 In addition, research suggests that practical instruction, rather than theory or demonstration alone, is more effective for long-term behavior change.9 Videos provide an engaging and flexible way to convey information and can easily be viewed when convenient.10 The purpose of this 2-step project was to develop and assess educational materials designed to improve viewer knowledge and intent to use herbs and spices in home cooking. Project 1 focused on the development of a webinar featuring the use of herbs and spices in cooking to reduce added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. Webinar participant feedback was then used to develop a series of short education videos to teach healthy cooking using herbs and spices. In Project 2, the usefulness of the videos in a large online sample was assessed. We hypothesized that both the webinar and the short educational videos would increase knowledge, confidence, and intent to use herbs and spices to reduce added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium