Level of Anxiety-State as a factor in changing eating patterns in college students: NUTSAU Study

Bruno Dos Santos De Assis,Camila Bastos Faustino,Luana Azevedo De Aquino,Mariá Gonçalves Pereira Da Silva,Ana Beatriz Franco-Sena

doi:10.33448/rsd-v10i17.25040

Bruno Dos Santos De Assis, Camila Bastos Faustino + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i17.25040

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Abstract

With the purpose of identifying eating patterns of university students at a federal university in the state of Rio de Janeiro, a cross-sectional analysis of food consumption data was stratified by anxiety symptom scores of 147 students enrolled in the second semester of several undergraduate courses in the second semester of 2015. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory determined the anxiety symptoms scores. A food frequency questionnaire was applied to obtain food consumption data. Students were stratified into two groups, using the median state anxiety score as cutoff point. For each group, some dietary patterns were derived by the application of the principal component analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software. The university students presented a median state-anxiety score of 43 points, and it was significantly higher in women. Three dietary patterns were identified for each group according to their nutritional characteristics, among which “Mixed 1”, “Healthy” and “Rice and Beans” for the less anxious students and “Western”, “Mixed 2” and “Rice and Beans” for the most anxious students. The results showed that it was possible to identify consistent food patterns for both, using a factorial analysis method. Students with the highest anxiety-state scores had a pronounced Western eating pattern, and those least anxious students had higher consumption of healthier food groups and lower consumption of caffeinated beverages. Although this is a cross-sectional analysis, it can contribute to optimize nutritional intervention for this population.

Highlights

Mental health problems represent a significant global burden of disease in all communities around the world (Paniccia et al, 2017)
The present study presented three main results: 1) female university students presented higher anxiety-state scores than male students; 2) the predominant dietary pattern identified in the students presents consonance with the pattern usually called Western; and 3) substantially different dietary patterns were identified within the different anxiety-state groups
The use of principal component analysis to derive the dietary patterns of university students can be considered a contribution of this study to this area, since there are few studies in this population group

Summary

Introduction

Mental health problems represent a significant global burden of disease in all communities around the world (Paniccia et al, 2017). The absence of treatment, especially in adolescents and young adults, can lead to several complications, such as increased risk of cardiovascular disease, weight gain in adulthood and sleep disorders (Sena, 2014; Mahmoud et al, 2015; Roest et al, 2010; Whiteford et al, 2015). For these groups, some milestones, as the admission to university, may influence new behaviors and social relationships as well as the anxiety that can turn food into a "refuge" in situations of physical and mental stress (Soar et al, 2012). In terms of evaluation of the eating habits, the most reliable way consists in a dietary pattern analysis that characterizes the evaluation of a set of food groups commonly consumed by individuals and populations (Diez & Frayze-Pereira, 1999; Willet, 1998)

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