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Background: University students may be a vulnerable group to adopt unhealthy behaviors, including changes in eating behavior. Assessment of factors associated with the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in this population may facilitate the early identification of their predictors, thus allowing fast interventions. Aim: To analyze the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors (DEB) and associated factors in Brazilian university students. Methods: Cross-sectional study of male and female students aged 16–25 years, enrolled in full-time degree program at a public university in the mid-west of Brazil. Disordered eating behaviors in the last three months (binge eating, purging, and food restriction), through an adapted version of the instrument developed by Hay, was evaluated and the association with demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, including lifestyle, body image, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and excess weight, was analyzed. A hierarchical analysis model was performed to determine the relative importance of factors on the prevalence of DEB. Results: A total of 1608 university students were evaluated (50.7% male). Prevalence of DEB was 4.4% for binge eating, 2.5% for purging and 9.1% for food restriction, all of which were higher among women (7.0%, 4.4%, and 13.5%) compared with men (1.8%, 0,6%, and 4.9%, respectively). The factors that remained significantly associated with these behaviors were female sex, smoking, consumption of alcoholic beverages, dissatisfaction with body image, excess weight, high perceived stress, and presence of self-reported depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Factors associated with DEB signal that intervention is required to create synergy between individual and population-level interventions in lifestyle behaviors.

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This is a cross-sectional analysis of data obtained in the baseline of the Longitudinal Study on the Lifestyle and Health of University Students (n=685), carried out in a public Brazilian university. Food intake was assessed using a 24-hour dietary recall. Dietary patterns (DP) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner were identified using principal component analysis. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the variables associated with each DP. Three DP were extracted for each meal: breakfast: “White bread and butter/margarine”, “Coffee and Tea”, “Sausages, whole wheat bread and cheese”; lunch: “Traditional”, “Western”, “Vegetarian”; dinner: “Beans, rice and processed juice”, “White bread and butter/margarine”, “White meat, eggs and natural juice”. Students who had meals at the campus showed greater adherence to the “White bread and butter/margarine” (exp(βadj)=1.15, 95% CI: 1.11;1.19) and “Coffee and Tea” (exp(βadj)=1.06, 95% CI: 1.02;1.10) breakfast patterns; “Western” lunch pattern (exp(βadj)=1.04, 95% CI: 1.01;1.08) and to the “Beans, rice and processed juice” dinner pattern (exp(βadj)=1.10, 95% CI: 1.06;1.14). Having meals at the campus was associated with lower adherence to the “Sausages, whole wheat bread and cheese” breakfast pattern (exp(βadj)=0.93, 95% CI: 0.89;0.97), “Traditional” lunch pattern (exp(βadj)=0.96, 95% CI: 0.93;0.99) and to the “White bread and butter/margarine” (exp(βadj)=0.96, 95% CI: 0.93;0.99) and “White meat, eggs and natural juice” (exp(βadj)=0.96, 95% CI: 0.93;0.99) dinner pattern. Food environment at campus may influence students’ DP. Recognizing meal eating patterns is important to support healthy eating promotion strategies on campus. Adjustments in the University Canteen menu could contribute to healthier eating choices among students.