P45 Impact of a College Nutrition Course on Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Intake of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Background Nutrition education and prevention efforts targeted to college students have become an important public health initiative as students face many new dietary challenges and are establishing lifelong health behaviors. Objective This study examined the impact of an introductory college nutrition course (Science of Human Nutrition) on the nutrition knowledge and dietary intake of college students. Study Design, Settings, Participants A non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted at a large public Midwestern university. Participants were undergraduate college students with no restrictions on class standing, age or gender. Students were categorized based on whether they had completed or not completed a general education basic science nutrition course. An online questionnaire was developed using the Qualtrics software to collect participant's responses. Measurable Outcome/Analysis The participants (n = 121) completed a validated online questionnaire that assessed nutrition knowledge and a 24-hour diet recall form that was used to assess diet quality. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010 (a measure of diet quality in accordance with Dietary Guidelines for Americans) was used to measure diet quality. Data were analyzed using one-way Analysis of Variance and Pearson correlation. Results Students who had completed a nutrition course had a significantly higher mean knowledge score than students who had not completed a nutrition course (P Conclusion This study demonstrated that increased nutritional knowledge contributes to better food choices and more adequate nutritional intake among college students. Future nutrition interventions to improve dietary quality in college students should focus on improving nutrition knowledge including encouraging universities to offer an undergraduate nutrition course to all students. Funding None.