Influence of eating habits and alcohol consumption on the academic performance among a university population in the community of Madrid: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between dietary habits and alcohol consumption on academic performance among university students. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: University located in Madrid, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: 56 university students of nursing (45 women and 11 men). The study complies with the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the University Ethics Committee (36/2018). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Dietary intake and habits assessed with validated survey, alcohol consumption and academic performance. ANALYSIS: Chi-square test, Student's t-test, ANOVA analysis, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis analysis and Shapiro-Wilk test. RESULTS: The average daily energy intake of the students was 1918 ± 725 kcal and, on average, alcohol accounted for 6%. The increased energy contribution from alcohol was negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI). Moreover, an inverse association was also found in alcohol intake according to Body Mass Index (BMI) (p < 0.02). Students with failing grades (53.6%) reported a higher daily alcohol intake than those who passed (42.2 %) (32 g/day versus 24 g/day) (p = 0.043). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol consumption is related to both poor academic performance as well as diminished quality of life. Thus, it is of vital importance to undertake awareness campaigns at various levels to dissuade alcohol consumption especially at early ages.