Association between Mobile Phone Addiction Index and Sugar-Sweetened Food Intake in Medical College Students Stratified by Sex from Shanghai, China

Abstract

This study’s objective was to depict sugar-sweetened food (SSF) consumption in medical college students stratified by sex from Shanghai, China, and to explore the association between the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI) and SSF intake. The data were obtained from 1121 medical college students from the Fudan University, Shanghai, China, who took an online questionnaire investigation in December 2020. Data included demographics, the MPAI, the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Questionnaire (NLAQ), total and food expenditure per month, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and a food frequency questionnaire (carbonated beverages (CB), other sugar-based beverages (OSBB), sugar/chocolate). We evaluated the association between the MPAI and three types of SSF intake according to multivariate logistic regression analysis stratified by sex. The mean CB, OSBB, and sugar/chocolate intakes were, respectively, 65.66 mL/d, 74.20 mL/d, and 4.96 g/d in men and 30.42 mL/d, 71.48 mL/d, and 4.99 g/d in women. The MPAI was positively associated with SSF intake, regardless of sex. In men, the CB and OSBB odds ratios (ORs) were, respectively, 1.023 (95% CI: 1.004–1.042), 1.019 (95% CI: 1.001–1.038); and in women, the CB, OSBB, and sugar/chocolate ORs were, respectively, 1.026 (95% CI: 1.013–1.039), 1.020 (95% CI: 1.007–1.033), and 1.019 (95% CI: 1.006–1.032). Age, NLAQ, total expenditure, food expenditure, and total physical activity also were related to SSF intake. Age and the application capacity of the NLAQ were negatively associated with SSF intake, whereas comprehension capacity of the NLAQ, total and food expenditure, and total physical activity were positively associated with SSF intake. This study confirmed that SSF intake is widespread among medical college students from Shanghai, China, even if they have relatively high nutrition health literacy. From a public health perspective, it is necessary to reduce SSF intake in medical college students by decreasing the MPAI, controlling the total and food expenditure per month in high-consumption areas, and improving the application ability of the NLAQ. Further studies are needed to explore the MPAI and other potential factors that may influence SSF intake of college students by expanding the sample size of college students throughout China, and the causal association between them.

Effects of Cell Phone Dependence on Mental Health Among College Students During the Pandemic of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey of a Medical University in Shanghai

“…In contrast, age, grade, faculty-student relationship, insomnia, cigarette use, BMI, and life satisfaction were significantly associated with mental health. These findings echoed prior observations on the determinants of mental health for college students (Lopez-Fernandez et al, 2014;Fergusson et al, 2015;De-Sola Gutiérrez et al, 2016;Bieda et al, 2018;Cha, 2018;Zhen et al, 2019;Nie and Ma, 2020;China Internet Network Information Center, 2021;Jiang et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2021). Notedly, in this study, having higher life satisfaction was associated with lower odds of suffering from psychological problems for college students, which indicated life satisfaction's role in reducing the psychological problems.…”

“…One study showed more frequent cell phone overuse among college students when compared with the pre-epidemic period (Kim, 2018 ). Additionally, it was also reported that frequent use of the internet on cell phones among college students would cause poor sleep quality, irregular eating patterns, and even anxiety and depression (Liu et al, 2021 ). Within the Chinese context, according to a report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), up to December 2020, there were 1.614 billion mobile phone users in China, among whom students accounted for 21%, with college students aged 18–22 being the largest- and fastest-growing group (China Internet Network Information Center, 2021 ; Conrad et al, 2021 ).…”

Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Life Satisfaction Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Shanghai, China

“…An interesting finding of our study is that the MAPI score was lower than in several previous studies. For example, Liu et al found that the MPAI score in male medical college students in Shanghai was 44.94 ± 12.08, female 45.25 ± 11.87 ( 41 ). A study of high school students in Sichuan and Chongqing showed a little higher MPAI score with a mean of 41.65 than our study ( 24 ).…”

Evaluation of Dietary Quality Based on Intelligent Ordering System and Chinese Healthy Eating Index in College Students from a Medical School in Shanghai, China

“…The sampling method was previously described [ 32 ], and random cluster sampling was applied. Four colleges and departments were randomly selected from the medical school of Fudan University, Shanghai, China, including the School of Public Health, the School of Basic Medicine, the Institute of Brain Science, and the Institute of Biomedicine.…”

“…In December 2020, we conducted an online questionnaire survey for our target population. The survey method was previously described [ 32 ]. The online questionnaire survey was conducted via “Wenjuanxing” ( , accessed on 12 December 2020), a platform providing functions equivalent to Amazon Mechanical Turk.…”