Association between eating habits and quality of life among Chilean university students.

FOOD habits; SNACK foods; PSYCHOLOGY of college students; CONVENIENCE foods; CROSS-sectional method; SELF-evaluation; HEALTH status indicators; SURVEYS; QUALITY of life; QUESTIONNAIRES; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; BREAKFASTS

Objective To estimate the association between eating habits and quality of life (QOL) in Chilean university students. Participants: 1,212 students from the Universidad de La Frontera, Chile (mean age 18.7 ± 2.15) were surveyed in January–March 2018. Methods: Participants completed a cross-sectional self-report survey to evaluate QOL using the WHOQOL-BREF scale and eating habits with a food habits survey. Results: Students reporting a better healthy eating habits score also presented a higher QOL. Eating breakfast and eating home-cooked meals is a protective factor for QOL in each domain. The consumption of sweet snacks was shown to be a risk factor for the physical health and environment domains. The consumption of fast food is shown as the greatest risk factor in the physical domain. Conclusion: Healthy and unhealthy eating habits are associated with different dimensions of QOL. University authorities should develop new policies to improve the QOL of the entire university community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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