Determinantes da qualidade da dieta e do estado nutricional em estudantes universitários

Abstract

The transition to higher education brings changes that affect students' eating habits due to a lack of time, resources, culinary skills, and food insecurity. These factors impact health, academic performance, and diet quality. The objective of this study was to present the main factors affecting the diet quality and nutritional status of university students, including lifestyle, income, gender, and culinary skills. For this purpose, searches were conducted in the MEDLINE/PubMed (via the National Library of Medicine), SciELO, Science Direct, and Scopus databases. The published studies highlighted that many students consume more ultra-processed foods and fewer fruits and vegetables during the transition to academic life. These eating habits can be influenced by time constraints, financial limitations, and restricted culinary skills, which may impact health and academic performance. Additionally, some university students exhibit harmful eating behaviors and dissatisfaction with body image, even when they are within the normal weight range. This underscores the need to assess these eating habits using scores, indices, and scales to classify the diet quality of these students. The studies indicated that university students’ diet quality is influenced by lifestyle, marked by excessive alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, and unhealthy eating habits; income, since undesirable economic conditions, may lead to food insecurity; gender, with an influence on food intake, body perception, and self-image, particularly in women; and culinary skills, which promote greater food autonomy and knowledge of the nutritional value of meals. These determinants significantly impact food choices and the dietary patterns adopted. In this context, published studies also highlight the importance of interventions that promote healthy eating through nutrition education and the development of culinary skills. These efforts can positively contribute to improving students' quality of life and academic performance, reinforcing the importance of adequate health support for university students.