Impact of a College Nutrition Course on the Dietary Habits and Health Beliefs of Community College Students

Few studies have assessed nutrition changes of community college students after a college-level nutrition course. We investigated nutrition course impact on health beliefs and dietary choices. In fall 2010, students in 18 sections of Introductory Nutrition in a state-wide college system including 12 professors and 11 campuses completed a post-course Likert-style survey. Complete surveys were received from 154 students (67%) with an average age of 26.9 years (SD=9.25). Seventy-six % were female, 31% had children, and 23% lived with parents. Over 98% of students believed diet affects health and healthy diets decreases disease risk. While 88.3% made healthier choices and 83.8% considered micronutrient content, many considered healthy food to be expensive (66.2%). Although 63.0% could find healthy restaurant meal options, only 28% reported that eating healthy away from home was easy. Students said creating a healthy diet plan was easy (54.6%) and could plan meals within dietary guidelines and budget (55.8%). After the course, students reported consuming less fast-food (63.6%) and soda (51.3%), and consuming more fruit (53.3%) and vegetables (59.9%). Students used food labels to avoid saturated fat (74.0%), trans fat (78.4%) and sodium (59.7%). Findings suggest that nutrition courses may impact dietary behaviors in ways conventional public health messages may not. Course materials must be relevant to students who are often older and have children. Efforts should be made to increase access to a basic nutrition class for all college students as a mechanism to improve health and decrease disease risk.

Analysis completed April 2012 after regular deadline.