Dietary Preferences and Nutritional Information Needs Among Career Firefighters in the United States.
BACKGROUND
Considerable cardiovascular disease and cancer risk among firefighters are attributable to excess adiposity. Robust evidence confirms strong relationships between dietary patterns and the risk of chronic disease. Dietary modification is more likely to be effective when the strategy is appealing and addresses knowledge gaps.


OBJECTIVE
To assess career firefighters' diet practices and information needs, compare the relative appeal of proposed diet plans, and examine how these vary in association with body composition.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, online survey distributed to members of the International Association of Fire Fighters.


RESULTS
Most firefighters do not currently follow any specific dietary plan (71%) and feel that they receive insufficient nutrition information (68%), but most are interested in learning more about healthy eating (75%). When presented with written descriptions of diets without names or labels and asked to rank them in order of preference, firefighters most often rated the Mediterranean diet as their favorite and gave it a more favorable distribution of relative rankings (P<.001) compared to the Paleo, Atkins, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes, and Esselsteyn Engine 2 (low-fat, strictly plant-based) diets. Obese respondents reported more limited nutritional knowledge (P<.001) and were more likely to feel that they received insufficient nutritional information (P=.021) than participants with normal body weight.


CONCLUSIONS
Most career firefighters are overweight or obese and do not practice a specific diet; however, 75% want to learn more about healthy eating. Among popular dietary choices, firefighters were most receptive to a Mediterranean diet and least receptive to a strictly plant-based diet.
St Elizabeth's Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States (Dr Yang).
Justin
J
Yang
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Italy (Dr Farioli).
Andrea
A
Farioli
Environmental & Occupational Medicine & Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States (Ms Korre).
Maria
M
Korre
Environmental & Occupational Medicine & Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States (Ms Kales).
Stefanos N
SN
Kales
Firefighters; diet; nutrition; preference