“Eating-out” among university students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare the Eating Out phenomenon among university students from private and public schools. Methodology: Cross-sectional study conducted among 317 students from private (Biotechnology Faculty) and public (Engineering Faculty) universities aged 19 to 23 years old. Lifestyle variables such as food habits as well as socio-demographic background variables were included in a selfadministered structured questionnaire. Results: The proportion of students from the private university who take more than four meals per day is significantly higher than the proportion of students at public university (60.3% vs. 32.1%, p<0.001) but there are no significant differences in the number of meals taken away from home (proportion of students who take more than two meals away from home: 30.6% Biotechnology Faculty vs. 33.7% Engineering Faculty, p=0.606). The canteen is the most referred place to eat out of home (40.8%) and the proportion of students from the private university who choose the restaurant is higher (28.2% vs. 4.9%, p=0.005). The number of meals taken away from home is associated with higher consumption of carbonated soft drinks and fried snacks. The most common reasons for the consumption of fast food mentioned by the students are “appreciate its flavor”, “time scarcity” as well as “to take meals with friends who eat the same food”. Lunch and morning and afternoon snacks are the meals that students have more often away from home. Conclusions: Eating out is frequent among university students. The frequency of consumption of high energy foods suggests that food choices are not the most favourable. Differences between food patterns can be observed when comparing students from a private institution with students from a public one.