Nutritional knowledge and concerns about meat of elderly French people in the aftermath of the crisis over BSE and foot-and-mouth.

The aim of this study was to compare elderly people with young adults in France for nutritional knowledge and concerns about meat in the aftermath of the rises with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and foot-and-mouth disease. Between March and April 2001, 99 healthy elderly people and 93 younger adults living in France were interviewed. Most of the elderly and young participants knew that meat contains proteins but were unaware of the role of proteins in body metabolism. The elderly knew that meat also contains iron and vitamins and is necessary for growth and for physical activity. However, elderly people had little awareness of the importance of consuming meat and were convinced that they had to reduce meat consumption because of their lower physical activity. On the other hand, they knew more than younger adults about animal diseases and were less worried about 'mad cow disease'. Thus, although the elderly people were confident about the safety of meat and recognised its nutritional properties, they did not consider it to be an essential food.