Examination of nutritional habits and nutritional knowledge levels of folk dancers

The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional habits and nutritional knowledge levels of adult voluntary folk dancers in Turkey. The participants were folk dancers aged 17 and above, who were athletes actively participating in folk dances for at least 3 years. The data were collected via a questionnaire and analyzed using the SPSS v. 22 software package. Nutritional knowledge score and food preference score of the participant were comparatively assessed. For food preferences, the mean score of women was found to be significantly higher compared to men. The mean basic nutrition score of the participants who skipped meals was higher compared to those who did not. The mean basic nutrition score of the married participants was higher than that of single participants. The mean food preference score of the single participants was higher compared to those who were not. The difference found in nutritional knowledge levels based on marital status was significant (p=0.000). The mean basic nutrition score was 2.36 ± 0.41 for the participants who were actively working, and 2.23 ± 0.44 for the participants who were not actively working. The mean food preference score of the participants who were not actively working was higher compared to those who were. The difference between them was significant (p=0.000). It was found that the folk dancers who participated in the study were not informed well about nutritional knowledge and habits.