Messages for Increasing Dairy Consumption

Summary

Over 35,000 Canadians, 65% of men and 72% of women aged 31-50 years fail to consume the recommended number of milk and milk product servings (≤2 servings per day). Given the wide range of health benefits associated with increased dietary intake of milk and milk products the objectives of this study were to conduct a prospective, 5-arm randomised controlled trial in order to test the effectiveness of a variety of messages for increasing milk and milk product consumption in men and women aged 30-50 years old. The five arms consisted of 4 messages that contained slightly different content specifically: 1) gain-framed message condition, 2) loss-framed message condition, 3) self-regulatory efficacy-enhancing message condition, 4) gain-framed and self-regulatory efficacy-enhancing message condition and 5) loss-framed plus self-regulatory efficacy-enhancing message condition. It was hypothesised that those who receive self-regulatory efficacy-enhancing information would consume more dairy than those who received messages without such information. Second, those who received gain-framed messages would consume more dairy as compared to those who received loss-framed messages. Third, those who received gain-framed messages that include self-regulatory efficacy-enhancing information would consume the most dairy in comparison to the other four conditions.

Conditions

• Dietary Modification

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Gain-Framed

Participants will be randomised to one of five message conditions. Each condition will receive a total of four emailed messages on four consecutive days (i.e., 1 message per day). Participants in the Gain-Framed message condition will receive message content that highlights the potential benefits of consuming milk and milk products (i.e., high protein content, stronger hair and nail etc.)

BEHAVIORAL

Loss-Framed

Participants will be randomised to one of five message conditions. Each condition will receive a total of four emailed messages on four consecutive days (i.e., 1 message per day). Participants in the Loss-Framed message condition will receive message content that highlights the potential losses of not consuming milk and milk products (i.e., lack of essential nutrients, less calcium).

BEHAVIORAL

Self-Regulatory Efficacy

Participants will be randomised to one of five message conditions. Each condition will receive a total of four emailed messages on four consecutive days (i.e., 1 message per day). Participants in the Self-Regulatory Efficacy message condition will receive information pertaining to how to include milk and milk products within their diet. This information will come in the form of recipes, meal planning, food combining etc.

BEHAVIORAL

Gain-Framed + Self-Regulatory Efficacy

Participants will be randomised to one of five message conditions. Each condition will receive a total of four emailed messages on four consecutive days (i.e., 1 message per day). Participants in the Gain-Framed message + Self-Regulatory Efficacy condition will receive message content that highlights the potential benefits of consuming milk and milk products (i.e., high protein content, stronger hair and nail etc.) and information pertaining to how to include milk and milk products within their diet.

BEHAVIORAL

Loss-Framed + Self-Regulatory Efficacy

Participants will be randomised to one of five message conditions. Each condition will receive a total of four emailed messages on four consecutive days (i.e., 1 message per day). Participants in the Loss-Framed message + Self-Regulatory Efficacy condition will receive message content that highlights the potential losses of not consuming milk and milk products (i.e., lack of essential nutrients, less calcium) and information pertaining to how to include milk and milk products within their diet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of British Columbia

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

30 Years

Max Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-08-31

Primary Completion

2013-11-30

Completion

2013-11-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations