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Examining food intake and eating out of home patterns among university students
Llanaj et. al (2018) examined food intakes of 289 young students taken from three universities in Albania, to assess their consumption of foods and drinks both at home (AH) and out of home (OH) along with how these relate to nutritional contribution to their daily diet. Through using a single day Automated Multiple Pass Method (AMPM) 24-hour dietary recall, the study assessed the contributions of eating OH to the students’ total energy intake daily and also to consumption of macronutrients. Foods and drinks consumed OH contributed 46.9% of total daily energy intake, representing, on average, 1169.1kcal, although consumption of fruits and vegetables were very low. Out of the house, the more frequently consumed items were sweets, soft drinks and meat products. At home, the average quantity of sugars and dietary fats per day was higher than OH (76.9g vs. 33.7g, 173.7g vs. 142g, respectively). Dietary composition of AH intake was richer in sugars, total fats and proteins, while OH intake consisted of more saturated fats. Although the overall diet appeared unhealthy when nutrients were assessed as energy percentages against WHO proposed nutrient standards for sugar and saturated fats, eating OH was not clearly associated with poor diet quality. The writers believe the data provided can prove useful for designing and conducting future studies and interventions targeting malnutrition in all of its forms. [NPID: behavior, Albania, dietary recall, macronutrients, fruit, vegetables, FV intake, sweets, soft drinks, meat products, sugars, fat, protein, saturated fats, malnutrition]
Year: 2018
