Status quo and influencing factors of functional food consumption among college students in Beijing

Objective To study the consumption status and influencing factos of functional food among college students in Beijing and to provide scientific basis for consumption of functional food and nutritional knowledge training among college students.Methods Random cluster sampling method was used in this survey.Totally 465 college students from 10 universities in Beijing were investigated with a self-administered questionnaire.Results Among the students,54.4% take or ever took functional food and 51.4% spend less than 200 RMB yuan on functional food per year.The main types of functional food consumed by the students were vitamins and minerals(49%),nutrient immuno-stimulants(22%) and products for improving memory(12%).Multivariate analysis showed that believing the effect of functional food(odds ratioOR=2.610,95% confidence interval95%CI=1.050-6.485),believing the effect of functional food at some extent(OR=2.013,95%CI=1.206-3.359) and familiy members taking functional food (OR=3.779,95%CI=2.114-6.753) were significant factors influencing functional food consumption in the students.Conclusion More than a half of the college students in Beijing take or ever took functional food.The frequency of browsing health-related information,the attitude towards the effectiveness of functional food and whether family or classmates taking functional food are important factors influencing functional food consumption among college students.