Food attitudes among Halmstad University students : A study on common food practices and the extent of prevalence of fast food in the daily lives of Halmstad University Students

Abstract: Background: University students face many obstacles in this phase of life with academic expectations, job opportunities, social problems as well as time management. The busy schedule may lead them to unstructured and unhealthy eating.Aim: The study is aimed to investigate the attitude of university students regarding their food pattern in their daily lives with the prevalence of fast food and to compare males and females food choices, and which significant factors are prevalent to take fast food rather than healthy diet in their routine life. Method:This study utilized the cross-sectional quantitative method. 105 students from Halmstad University were included in the study. Data were collected with a standardised questionnaire including 23 questions. The data was analysed with descriptive analysis technique. In analytic statistics, the p-value was used for the analysis with the chi-square test and Mann Whitney-U test for differences in attitudes between female and male students. Results: The students had a mean age of 24.6, with a range from 18 to 30 years. The university students’ food and fast food approach in their daily lives showed that more males compared to females skipped breakfast (p=0.011). The male students apparently consumed more large portions of fast food than females (p=0.001). The consumption of fast food during a day differed; mostly females consumed fast food in the evening, while male students had no specific time for consumption compared to females (p=0.013). Female students more often ate vegetarian food than males (p= 0.049). The favourite fast food of the students was pizza and hamburger, and favourite beverage with fast food was water, coffee, and soft drink. Fast food consumption during a week reported by students was mostly once in a week (71%). The motivational factors of choosing fast food were mostly the taste (30%), other factors were accessibility (15%), pleasure (15%) are with same percentage and followed by shortage of time and affordability (14%)are also similar factors in the choice of fast food. Conclusions: This study concluded that student’s attitudes regarding food showed that they are sometimes eating a balanced diet, but they also habitual consume fast food once a week. Consumption of unhealthy food seems not to be high compared to other developing countries. Overall, there were no significant differences between males and females’ food attitudes, except for a few habits.