Nutrition knowledge and attitudes among college students

Abstract

Objective: Many people have nearly universal access to nutrition information due to the Internet, yet online sources have a wide range of scientific and journalistic integrity that is difficult to predict. This affects the understanding and attitudes of the public regarding nutrition information. Given the academic and research-focused setting of universities, they are points of interest regarding the extent of this effect. The purpose of this study was to determine the nutrition knowledge and misinformation among Oklahoma State University students, relative to their preferred sources of nutritional information.

Methods: A survey questionnaire was designed to evaluate the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of college students. It was composed of multiple-choice questions targeting popular sources of nutrition information and what factors participants considered to belong in either a healthy or unhealthy dietary pattern. The survey was released via Qualtrics, and five thousand OSU undergraduate students were randomly selected and contacted via email for participation.

Results: At the conclusion of the study, 316 responses were recorded. When asked which factors characterize a healthy pattern of eating, prioritizing fruits and vegetables was the most common response (97%), followed by eating fish regularly (65%), and drinking only water (60%). When asked which factors characterize a non-healthy pattern of eating, eating sweets was the top response (83%), followed by eating snacks like chips (78%) and juice cleanses (68%). When selecting sources of nutrition information, word of mouth/friends and family was the most common (56%), followed by social media (45%) and health websites like Healthline and MayoClinic (42%).

Summary: The data collected suggests that most Oklahoma State University students rely primarily on informal sources of nutrition information (i.e. word of mouth, social media). However, our data also suggests that most students understand key principles of a healthy dietary pattern like prioritizing fruits and vegetables and drinking only water, and avoiding foods and snacks that are overly sugary, calorically dense, and of little nutritional benefit. Taken together, these findings potentially suggest that despite students' overreliance on untrustworthy sources, the nutrition field has adequately popularized fundamental tenets of healthy eating.