Investigation of dietary behaviors of medical college students

Objective To investigate the dietary behaviors of students in a medical college and provide advice to correct their unhealthy dietary behaviors.Methods Five hundred and ninety-three medical students dietary behaviors(including the consumption of diet,frequency of dining outside the refectory of college and their dietary habit)were included in the investigation by a pre-designed questionnaire.All valid data were analyzed statistically.Results The living expenses of most college students were between 300-500 Yuan RMB permonth(56.5%),while 7.7% of the students was less than 300 Yuan RMB,which had no significant difference among different genders(P>0.05).There was significant difference among different genders in the constituent ratio of the average monthly dietary expenses(P<0.01).Approx miately 50.3% of the male students and 40.3% of the female spent more than 300 Yuan RMB on the monthly dining out(P<0.01),while 2.4% students less than 100 Yuan RMB.Approximately 64.9% of the students had a behavior of dining out at nearby restaurants outside the college,57.6% of the students made the choice of food mostly depending on their personal favorite and taste.Dietary bias and frequent snack preference existed in 26.9% and 29.8% of the students respectively.Fifteen percent students had breakfa stless than 3 times a week.There were more female students who had break fast more than 5 times per week,which had a significant difference between different genders(P<0.01).Conclusion Unhealthy dietary behaviors exist in large proportion of medical college students.The dietary health education should be streng thened and the quality of refectory repast should be upgraded to improve the students' nutritional status.