Hedonic Hunger Level of Health Science Students:\rCross-Sectional Research

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the\rhedonic hunger level of health science students. Material and Methods:\rA face-to-face survey with voluntary students (n=374) was conducted\rto collect the data including their demographic profile,\ranthropometric characteristics, hedonic hunger level, and desire for\rfoods. The Power of Food Scale (PFS) was used to determine the hedonic\rhunger level whereas the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was utilized\rto check the students’ desire for the consumption of palatable\rfoods. Chi-square test and Pearson correlation analysis were performed\rto analyze the data. Results: The female students felt more hedonic\rhunger than the male students. However, gender showed no significant\rdifference with respect to the total PFS score (p>0.05). Pearson analysis\rindicated no correlation between the PFS scores and anthropometric\rmeasurements (p>0.05). Ice-cream was found to be the most desired\rfood by students followed by fruits and nuts. Positive significant correlations\rbetween the PFS scores and the desire for the consumption of\rdesserts, chocolate, cake, patisserie foods, ice-cream, fast food, fried\rpotato, and snack were determined according to the VAS scores\r(p<0.05). Conclusion: Students felt hedonic hunger and desired mostly\rthe consumption of calorie-dense foods such as desserts, chocolate,\rcake, patisserie foods, ice-cream, and fried potato. The consumption of\rcalorie-dense foods can lead to the weight gain which is associated with\robesity. Therefore, the awareness of the students on the hedonic hunger\rshould be increased to prevent the risk of obesity in their later life.