Özet:

Objective: The fear of trying new foods (food neophobia, FN) is the fear of trying foods that have not been tried before. It has been reported that introducing new foods to people with obesity and being encouraged toward new foods have effects on fear of new foods. However, studies on the subject are very limited in the literature. This study was conducted with 384 volunteers (294 females and 90 males) aged 18-65 years to evaluate the relationship between nutritional knowledge level and food neophobia. Methods: Demographic characteristics of the participants, anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits, healthy nutrition information channels, and food neophobia levels using the FNS scale were obtained by face-to-face interview method. Results: Women were found to be more neophobic than men (p=0.007). People with higher education levels have lower fear of new foods (p=0.014). Fear of trying new foods was found to be lower in high-income participants than in those with low-income participants (p=0.008). Food neophobia restricts diet diversity. At the same time increases the risk of obesity due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Conclusion: People with obesity -who have a higher Body Mass Index- value tend to eat foods with high fat and sugar content. As a result of obesity, individuals preferred traditional high-calorie foods, decreased their desire to try new foods, and developed neophobia against food. 

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