Relationships among Diet Quality and Cooking Skills in a Group of College Students

Abstract

Students at a Midwest university (n=968) completed a survey regarding perceived confidence in cooking skills, food preparation frequencies, and average daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy. A higher skills score was moderately correlated to higher vegetable intake (r=0.29, p<0.001). A higher cooking score was also associated with meeting the recommendations for vegetables (p<0.001), but was not associated with meeting recommendations for fruits (p= 0.22), whole grains (p=0.062), or low-fat dairy (p=0.24). More confidence in skills score was correlated with a higher BMI (r = 0.12, p= 0.001), though correlation was low. Cooking skills score was also positively associated with food preparation frequency score (p<0.001). Although higher skills score was not strongly associated with fruit, whole grains, and low-fat dairy intake, students who have higher cooking skills may be more likely to prepare more vegetables. Encouraging cooking classes for college students may aid in meeting dietary recommendations. Keywords: deskilling, diet quality, BMI, cooking skills, college students, food preparation frequency, self-efficacy