Investigation of Motives Underlying Food Choice of Health Science Students: Cross Sectional Study

Objective: Poor eating habits are widespread among university students. This study aimed to investigate the motives un- derlying food choices of health science students by using a food choice questionnaire (FCQ). Moreover, the correlations between food choice dimensions and anthropometric characteristics such as body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio were investigated.Material and Methods: Voluntary students (n=335) from the faculty of health sci- ences participated in the study. Their demographic properties and an- thropometric measurements were recorded. Turkish version of the FCQ was applied to the participants. For analyzing the data, chi-square test and Pearson correlation analysis were performed. Results: Research findings revealed that the most important food choice dimensions were sensory appeal, price, and mood, respectively, and the least important were weight control, natural content, and ethical concern, respectively. Health dimension had a lower importance in food choice compared to sensory appeal dimension. Females gave higher scores compared to males. The BMI was positively correlated with both convenience and weight control dimensions. No correlation was found between the waist-to-height ratio and food dimensions. Conclusion: To reduce health risks related to poor eating habits, university students’ aware- ness of healthy foods and nutrition should be increased. For this reason, activities should be organized to improve their knowledge about healthy nutrition.