THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' NUTRITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY HABITS AND BODY MASS INDEX, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the nutrition and physical activity habits of university students and to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and academic achievement of these habits. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 127 second-year students at a university. A questionnaire consisting of multiple choice questions was used in this study. The data were analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 23.0 program. A total of 81.9% of the participants were female, and their mean age was 20.07±1.4 years. The overall weighted grade average of the students was 2.93±0.47. The mean BMI of the students was 21.5±2. There was a statistically significant difference between the number of daily meals, the consumption of fruit, nuts and legumes, meat, processed food, with grade point average (GPA) among the students participating in the study (p=.003, p=.001, p=.000, p=.032, p=.036, respectively). Moreover there was a statistically significant difference between the amount of physical activity and BMI (p=.008). The results show that the number of meals per day, fruit, meat, legumes, nuts and processed food consumption behaviors of university students can affect GPA, and physical activity can improve BMI scores positively.