Evaluation of University Students’ Nutritional Knowledge Attitudes and Behaviors

Objectives: In this study, nutritional habits of students, knowledge attitudes and behaviors about healthy nutrition will be evaluated. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 818 students enrolled in the departments of the School of Health Sciences and the bachelor’s programs offered by the Faculty of Medicine. The developed data collection form consists of 52 questions. Results: In this study 818 (665 female, 153 male) students were reached. 22.3% of the students stated that smoke and 10.2% stated that used alcohol. The nutritional knowledge level was significantly higher in non-smokers, those that did not consume alcohol, those with a family history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension or coronary disease, those that exercised ≥6 hours a week, those that had knowledge of and consumed probiotic products, and those that had >3 meals/day (p=0.019, p=0.001, p=0.048, p=0.006, p=0.032, p=0.046, p=0.000, p=0.000, p=0.001, respectively). There was no significant relationship between the participants’ level of nutritional knowledge and the educational level of their parents, monthly net income, type of accommodation, BMI, whether they had previously received nutritional education, skipping meals, consumption of milk, egg, bread or water, sleep duration, and constipation (p=0.88, p=0.069, p=0.055, p=0.070, p=0.072, p=0.0671, p=0.244, p=0.425, p=0.494, p=0.177, p=0.186, p=0.088, respectively). Conclusion: Students should be educated about converting their knowledge about healthy nutrition into attitudes and behaviors, and their knowledge should be increased with courses and various activities related to healthy nutrition.

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