Evaluation of Dietary Variety by Food Habits in Female University Students

The purpose of this study was to assess dietary variety by food habits(regularity of meal time, regularity of repast, repast of breakfast, lunch, and supper, number of suppers and night snacks per week, and duration of meal) in 138 female university students residing in Bucheon and its adjacent area. Food habits were assessed via a self reporting questionnaire, and a 3-day dietary recall survey was conducted by interviewing. Dietary variety was assessed by dietary diversity score(DDS), meal balance score(MBS), and dietary variety score(DVS). The average DDS, MBS, and DVS were $3.87{\pm}0.57$, $7.27{\pm}1.48$, and $12.59{\pm}3.14$, respectively. The DDS($2.21{\pm}0.83$) of the breakfast in the group in which the regularity of meal time per week was 5~7 days was significantly higher($p$ <0.01) than the DDS($1.47{\pm}0.96$) of the breakfast in the group in which the regularity of meal time per week was ${\leq}$2 days. The MBS($6.69{\pm}1.43$) of the group in which the regularity of meal times per week was ${\leq}2$ days was significantly lower($p$ <0.01) than the MBS of the group in which the regularity of meal time per week was ${\geq}3$ days. The DDS($2.38{\pm}0.69$) of the breakfast in the breakfast over eating group was significantly higher($p$ <0.001) than the DDS($1.83{\pm}0.83$) of breakfast under eating group. The MBS($6.56{\pm}1.46$) in the breakfast skipping group was significantly lower($p$ <0.01) than the MBS(about 7.6) in other breakfast eating groups, and the DVS ($13.79{\pm}3.21$) in the breakfast over eating group was significantly higher($p$ <0.05) than the DVS($11.53{\pm}2.94$) in the breakfast skipping group. The DDS of breakfast, lunch, and snack were not significantly correlated with the number of suppers per week, but the DDS($2.65{\pm}0.52$) of the supper in the group in which the number of suppers per week was 7 was significantly higher($p$ <0.05) than the DDS($2.22{\pm}0.49$, $2.25{\pm}0.62$) of the supper in the group in which the number of suppers per week was ${\leq}2$, 3~4. The DDS, MBS and DVS were not significantly correlated with the number of suppers per week. The DDS($1.33{\pm}1.25$) of the breakfast in the group in which the number of night snacks per week was 6~7 was significantly lower($p$ <0.05) than the DDS of the breakfast in the group in which the number of night snacks was ${\leq}5$. Also, the DDS($4.42{\pm}0.32$) per day in the group in which the duration of meal was <10 min. was significantly higher($p$ <0.01) than the DDS($3.51{\pm}0.53$) per day in the group in which the duration of meal was ${\geq}30$ min. These findings suggest that nutritional education based on female university students' eating variety and food habits(regularity of meal time, regularity of repast, repast of breakfast, lunch, and supper, number of suppers, and night snacks per week, and duration of meal) may be required to improve dietary variety.

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