Fast food consumption pattern amongst undergraduates of various disciplines of private colleges in Pune

Abstract

Background: The consumption of various types of fast food is increasingly germinating in all components of the world, each in developed and developing countries.Methods: A cross sectional study was done to explore the perception and knowledge regarding fast food consumption from March 2019 to June 2019 amongst the 300 undergraduate students within the ages of 18 to 20 of three established private colleges of different disciplines in Pune. Paperless data was collected by a predesigned, pretested questionnaire with the help of google forms and statistical analysis was done.Results: The prevalence of consumption of fast food was found to be maximum in the undergraduates belonging to the high-income group (socio-economic class I). Around 85% of the undergraduates consumed fast foods and out of 85% nearly 17% consumed once a day. The undergraduates from all disciplines were also perceived as fast food consumption is measure of one’s socio-economic status, 76% for medical and the lowest for engineering undergraduates (55%). A significant difference between medical, engineering and architecture undergraduates was reported regarding the perception that fast food consumption has no harmful effect on body (40, 26 and 57, p<0.001). About 37% of the students had very poor knowledge, 40% of the students had poor knowledge,13% had average and only 10% had good knowledge regarding fast food consumption leading to non-communicable diseases.Conclusions: The consequences of this study propose that a requirement for health education programs that stimulate healthy eating habits and lifestyle for undergraduate college students.