Nutritional knowledge among a large cohort of Italian students: a cross-sectional study

Healthy food behavior among adolescents represents a prevention factor for the onset of chronic diseases in adult life and is influenced by the familiar, socio-cultural and physical environment. Good nutritional knowledge plays a key role in ensuring healthy eating, that is adequate food choice and intake. This study aimed to assess the nutritional knowledge of Italian students from three Italian provinces of the Lazio Region (i.e., Rome, Frosinone, Latina) and to investigate its interrelationship with some socio-demographic characteristics (physical activity, parental education, school district city, BMI) of the surveyed subjects.

Students (n = 2573) were surveyed for their nutritional knowledge through the Italian version of the Moynihan questionnaire and for their socio-demographic characteristics. The relationship between their nutritional knowledge and their socio-demographic characteristics was investigated by univariate and multivariate statistical analyses.

Most participants displayed a normal weight (84%), followed by overweight (14%) and underweight (2%) subjects. Most students (44%) practiced physical activity at least twice a week. Most students (75%) reported a high family education level. Sixty percent of the subjects showed inadequate knowledge about healthy nutrition. A significant association (p<0.001) was observed between nutritional knowledge and school district city.

Educational nutrition programs should be promoted to improve nutritional knowledge among young people and reduce the risk of chronic disease development.