Cargando…

University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey

University food environments are typically dominated by unhealthy food choices. The aim was to investigate associations between on-campus food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake in an Australian university student sample. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017–2018 with student...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Whatnall, Megan C, Soo, Zhao Min, Patterson, Amanda J, Hutchesson, Melinda J
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8063938/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33805030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13041053
_version_ 1783682040317607936
author Whatnall, Megan C
Soo, Zhao Min
Patterson, Amanda J
Hutchesson, Melinda J
author_facet Whatnall, Megan C
Soo, Zhao Min
Patterson, Amanda J
Hutchesson, Melinda J
author_sort Whatnall, Megan C
collection PubMed
description University food environments are typically dominated by unhealthy food choices. The aim was to investigate associations between on-campus food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake in an Australian university student sample. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017–2018 with students (n = 362, 71.0% female, mean age 27.5 ± 10.5 years) from the University of Newcastle, Australia. On-campus food purchasing behaviours (purchasing frequency and weekly expenditure), dietary intake (diet quality and percentage energy/day from energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods) and sociodemographic and student characteristics (e.g., time spent on campus) were measured. Linear regression was used to explore associations between food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake, adjusted for potential confounders. Mean percentage energy/day from EDNP foods was 31.7 ± 14.4. Mean diet quality score was 32.6 ± 10.2 out of 73. Higher percentage energy/day from EDNP foods was associated with higher weekly expenditure (β = 0.203, p < 0.001) and more frequent purchase (β = 18.041, p < 0.001 for ≥4 times a week vs. never) of food/drinks on campus. Diet quality was not significantly associated with purchase frequency or expenditure (p > 0.05). Findings are supportive of changes being made to university food environments, as a strategy to improve dietary intake among university students.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8063938
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-80639382021-04-24 University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey Whatnall, Megan C Soo, Zhao Min Patterson, Amanda J Hutchesson, Melinda J Nutrients Article University food environments are typically dominated by unhealthy food choices. The aim was to investigate associations between on-campus food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake in an Australian university student sample. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017–2018 with students (n = 362, 71.0% female, mean age 27.5 ± 10.5 years) from the University of Newcastle, Australia. On-campus food purchasing behaviours (purchasing frequency and weekly expenditure), dietary intake (diet quality and percentage energy/day from energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods) and sociodemographic and student characteristics (e.g., time spent on campus) were measured. Linear regression was used to explore associations between food purchasing behaviours and dietary intake, adjusted for potential confounders. Mean percentage energy/day from EDNP foods was 31.7 ± 14.4. Mean diet quality score was 32.6 ± 10.2 out of 73. Higher percentage energy/day from EDNP foods was associated with higher weekly expenditure (β = 0.203, p < 0.001) and more frequent purchase (β = 18.041, p < 0.001 for ≥4 times a week vs. never) of food/drinks on campus. Diet quality was not significantly associated with purchase frequency or expenditure (p > 0.05). Findings are supportive of changes being made to university food environments, as a strategy to improve dietary intake among university students. MDPI 2021-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8063938/ /pubmed/33805030 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13041053 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Whatnall, Megan C
Soo, Zhao Min
Patterson, Amanda J
Hutchesson, Melinda J
University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title_full University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title_fullStr University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title_full_unstemmed University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title_short University Students Purchasing Food on Campus More Frequently Consume More Energy-Dense, Nutrient-Poor Foods: A Cross-Sectional Survey
title_sort university students purchasing food on campus more frequently consume more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods: a cross-sectional survey
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8063938/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33805030
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13041053
work_keys_str_mv AT whatnallmeganc universitystudentspurchasingfoodoncampusmorefrequentlyconsumemoreenergydensenutrientpoorfoodsacrosssectionalsurvey
AT soozhaomin universitystudentspurchasingfoodoncampusmorefrequentlyconsumemoreenergydensenutrientpoorfoodsacrosssectionalsurvey
AT pattersonamandaj universitystudentspurchasingfoodoncampusmorefrequentlyconsumemoreenergydensenutrientpoorfoodsacrosssectionalsurvey
AT hutchessonmelindaj universitystudentspurchasingfoodoncampusmorefrequentlyconsumemoreenergydensenutrientpoorfoodsacrosssectionalsurvey