[Diet quality in college students with different academic profile]

We can find in Spain several university studies concerning diet and lifestyle, showing them as an effective strategy to prevent chronic diseases.

To evaluate the energy and nutrient intake and adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (DM) in a group of college students with different academic profile and to compare the quality of the diet among students attending degrees in Health Science (HS) and those attending other degree courses (not HS).

77 students (80.3% female) from the Campus of Soria, 37 HS students and 40 not HS (mean age 21.2 ± 2.1 years), completed a questionnaire on socio-biographical data, the test KIDMED of adhesion to Mediterranean diet and recorded food intake for seven days. The amount of energy and nutrients was estimated using the software Nutriber (version 1.1.1.3r). Student t test or U Mann-Whitney were used to compare means of independent samples and the criterion of significance was set at p <0,05.

The respondent students, regardless of their academic profile, follow a low calorie diet with more protein and fat consumption than the recommended amount, and less carbohydrate and fiber, which is reflected in the insufficient intake of some vitamins and minerals. However, we observed a higher percentage of respondents with high adhesion to the parameters of the DM in the HS group (51.4%) than in the No HS group (30.8%).