Breakfast Skipping, Anxiety, Exercise, and Soda Consumption are Associated with Diet Quality in Mexican College Students

ABSTEACT

Despite the reported poor dietary habits and risk of weight gain in college students, they remain understudied in Mexico. Mexican college students are in a rapidly changing economic environment; a shift from a traditional, homemade cuisine to a diet more heavily influenced by an industrialized culture seems to be occurring, potentially affecting the quality of their dietary intake. A health and nutrition survey was conducted among 450 Mexican college students to study the relationship between sociodemographic factors and diet quality. Dietary data were used to build macro- and micronutrient scores, dichotomized as low and normal quality. Adjusted odds (OR [95% CI]) were computed to determine the probability of low dietary quality. Breakfast skipping (5.3 [1.2, 22.7]) and risk of anxiety (2.3 [1.3, 4.4]) were associated with a greater risk of low macronutrient quality, and caloric intake < 1,800 kcal (5.8 [3.5, 9.7]), breakfast skipping (3.7 [1.4, 10.3]), vigorous exercise ≤ 1 h/wk (2.6 [1.3, 5.2]), and soda consumption > 250 mL/d (2.0 [1.2, 3.3]) with low micronutrient quality.

KEYWORDS:

• College students
• diet quality
• Mexico
• nutrient intake
• young adults

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the students for their participation in this study.

Funding

This study was funded by a research grant from the Instituto de Nutrición y Salud Kellogg’s (INSK).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a research grant from the Instituto de Nutrición y Salud Kellogg’s (INSK).