Food label reading habits of health sciences students

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the food label reading habits of health sciences students. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected through a face-to-face survey with voluntary students (n: 520). The survey questionnaire consisted of three parts to gather information about their demographic and anthropometric characteristics and food label reading habits. Chi-squared test and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings: The health sciences students mostly read the food name, expiration date and ingredients on the food labels. However, they paid less attention to the nutrient contents, such as the fat type and carbohydrate, cholesterol, sugar, fiber and salt amounts. The female students paid more attention to the nutrient contents than the male students. Moreover, the Nutrition and Dietetics students paid more attention to the nutrient contents than the other students. Significant negative correlations were found between the carbohydrate, protein and fat amount reading habits and both the body mass index (p = 0.005, p = 0.001 and p < 0.001) and waist to height ratio (p = 0.040, p = 0.005 and p = 0.022). Research limitations/implications: This study does not allow one to draw conclusions for all university students. Originality/value: This study is first such study performed among health sciences students in Turkey.