An Evaluation of the Relationship Between College Students’ Cooking Skills, Frequency, and Self-Efficacy and Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Body Mass Index: GetFRUVED Study

Abstract

Determine the relationship between college students’ cooking skills, frequency, and self-efficacy and their fruit and vegetable intake (FV) and BMI. At-risk (consuming <2 servings of fruit or <3 servings of vegetable daily) first-year students (n=1,153) from eight universities were assessed for their cooking skills (cooking from basic ingredients, cooking mostly convenience foods, or not cooking), cooking frequency, and self-efficacy in cooking, cups of FV intake (nci FV screener) and height and weight. Type, frequency, and self-efficacy of cooking in relation to FV and BMI was examined using one-way ANOVA (SPSS IBM statistics 23, 2015); p≤0.05. Participant FV intake was 2.4±2.2 cups/day (mean±sd) and BMI was 24.4±5.07. Those preparing meals from basic ingredients reported higher FV (2.7±2.4) than those whose cooking skills are limited to mostly convenience foods (2.1±1.8, p=0.018). Individuals reporting preparing meals from basic ingredients 4-7 times weekly reported greater FV (3.1±2.4) than those reporting preparing meals 1-3 times weekly (2.4±2.2, p=0.041) and less than 1 time per week (2.4±2.1, p=0.019). Cooking 4-7 times weekly was also related to higher BMI (26.1±5.5), compared to those participants reporting cooking less than 1 time per week (23.9±4.4, p=0.037). There was no association between cooking self-efficacy and FV or BMI. Cooking skills and frequency of first year college students are related to greater FV. It may be beneficial to include cooking education in wellness programming for college students to improve dietary behavior. More research needs to be conducted on the association between cooking frequency and BMI.