Pharmacology and biochemistry undergraduate students' concern for a healthy diet and nutrition knowledge

卷:31

Bernardes Spexoto, Maria Claudia ; Ferin, Giovana Garcia ; Duarte Bonini Campos, Juliana Alvares

关键词: Biochemistry students;    Healthy behaviors;    Healthy foods;    Nutrition knowledge;    Pharmacology students;   

DOI  :  10.3305/nh.2015.31.4.8350

学科分类：食品科学和技术

【 摘 要 】

Objective: To estimate the concern for a healthy diet and the nutrition knowledge of undergraduate students of a pharmacology and biochemistry program and their associations with the variables of interest. Methods: This cross-sectional study administered the Nutrition Knowledge Scale and the How is your diet? questionnaire to 381 students. The associations between concern for a healthy diet and nutrition knowledge and between these two factors and the demographic variables were measured by the chi-square test (chi(2)) or Fisher's exact test. The significance level was set at 5%. Results: The mean age of the students was 20.6 (standard deviation [SD] = 2.7) years; 78.2% were female students; their mean body mass index was 22.6 (SD = 3.7) kg/m(2); and 73.5% had an appropriate body mass index related nutritional status. Most students fell within the category "pay attention to your diet" (77.1%) and "moderate nutrition knowledge" (79.7%). Concern for a healthy diet was significantly associated with program year (p = 0.024), socioeconomic class (p = 0.012), and physical activity (p < 0.001). Nutrition knowledge was associated only with program year (p < 0.001). Concern for a healthy diet was not associated with nutrition knowledge (p = 0.808). Conclusion: Physically inactive, first-year students from socioeconomic class B (US$ 1,046 - 1,872) were less concerned with a healthy diet. Such concern was not related to the students' nutrition knowledge.