Dietary behavior, attitudes and knowledge of college students

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references.The objectives of this research were to assess college students' dietary intake relative to the Recommended Dietary Allowances and selected recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), to measure college students' attitudes towards dietary practices, to measure the nutrition knowledge of college students, and to test for relationships among intake, attitudes, and knowledge. Students were recruited and instructed to complete two 3-day food records and three questionnaires at specified times throughout the longitudinal study. Nearly all nutrients were consumed at RDA levels or above with the exception of calcium and iron by females. On-campus meal plan subscribers consumed higher levels of many dietary components compared with on- and off-campus students with no meal plan. Average intake of sodium and protein by all students and cholesterol by women met NAS recommendations. Few responses to attitudes were different when compared by gender. Women had significantly higher knowledge scores than men. Students who were concerned about dietary of fat, energy, and fiber had low fat and energy and high fiber intakes. High scores for fiber and fat knowledge questions were also related to higher intake of fiber and lower intake of fat. Those who perceived the modification of fat and calorie intake to be important were more knowledgeable about the fat and calorie content in foods. Results from this study indicate that a need exists for college aged students to improve their intake such that the composition of their diets is in accordance with the NAS recommendations. This change in students' intake to meet the levels recommended by NAS may be influenced by the inducement of a positive attitude towards specific dietary behavior which relates to the NAS guidelines and/or by increasing student's knowledge of food nutrient composition