Date of Award
Fall 11-16-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Food Science
First Advisor
Simone Camel
Abstract
The number of people diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus continues to grow. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the risks of developing heart disease. Fruit and vegetable consumption is low across the country. Improving fruit and vegetable consumption for adults might start with improving intake earlier in life because it can influence better food habits. Following the Mediterranean diet at a young age can prevent chronic diseases from developing. It is well known that college students have diets that are not consistent with healthy eating habits and can be influenced by the need for convenience and limited resources to obtain food. This study aimed to determine whether college students' grocery shopping frequency and method were related to their adherence to the Mediterranean diet guidelines. It was a cross-sectional, descriptive design utilizing an online questionnaire with Louisiana Tech University students aged 18 years and older. Participants were recruited via email, flyers, class announcements, and word-of-mouth. Data was collected through Qualtrics survey software (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). There was a total of 41 questionnaire items. The questionnaire included twenty-nine researcher-developed items, eight items were derived from the validated KIDMED 2.0 tool to measure adherence to Mediterranean diet guidelines while grocery shopping, and four were sociodemographic items. The survey questionnaire identified college students' purchasing habits in regard to frequency of online/app and in-person food shopping. There were 210 respondents eligible for data analysis, 55% of whom were female, and the majority were White, non-Hispanic (67.80%). Engineering, math, and computer science made up the largest proportion of majors (31.30%). Thirty-two students majored in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics (15.2%). A positive correlation was found between the frequency of online shopping and total diet score, which supported food choices consistent with the Mediterranean diet principles. Participants’ diet scores increased with increasing frequency of online shopping. Perhaps the online shopping method reduced impulse buying of items typically of lower nutritional value. There was a positive correlation between the total purchasing frequency score for food items consistent with the Mediterranean diet and age. The frequency of purchasing these items increased as age increased; however, no correlation was found between age and the summed diet score. This may be a result of those younger students having meal plans that do not necessitate food purchases that often. This warrants further exploration. Independent samples t-tests were employed to compare diet scores and purchasing frequency of healthy food items between male and female participants. No significant difference was found in the diet score or purchasing frequency. However, a significant difference was found between White and non-White participants for the frequency of purchasing those food items but not for the diet score. This warrants further exploration to determine specific food item differences that may assist in future educational interventions. Surprisingly, no significant differences were found between health and non-health majors. Findings from this research project could inform future intervention efforts to improve food choices when grocery shopping using methods most frequently used by college students. By moving young adults toward a Mediterranean diet pattern, this may promote lifelong habits that support the prevention of chronic diseases. This work could also inform future interventions aimed at providing education on leveraging online food shopping features to support healthy food purchases within a budget.
Recommended Citation
Ayala, Montana Grace, "" (2024). Thesis. 140.
https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/theses/140
