Vegetable Consumption and Factors Associated with Increased Intake among College Students: A Scoping Review of the Last 10 Years

Abstract

Vegetable consumption is a predictor for improved health outcomes, such as reduced obesity and likelihood of food-related noncommunicable diseases. Young adults are a key population, being in a transitional stage-of-life: Habits gained here are taken through the lifespan. This review establishes insight into the consumption of vegetables among young adults during their college/university years, and factors associated with increased consumption. Seventy-one papers were extracted, published between January 2009 and October 2018. Search terms related to consumption; vegetables; and college/university setting and sample. A diverse range of definitions, guidelines, and study approaches were observed. Findings identify that the majority of students do not consume World Health Organization recommendations. Being female was the most frequent predictor of higher intake of vegetables, and no consumption patterns were identified by countries. Living at family home; body mass index; happiness and stress level; perceived importance of healthy eating; socioeconomic level; breakfast consumption; stage of study; openness to new experiences; sleep pattern; nutrition knowledge; activity level; alcohol usage; and energy intake were identified as influential factors. Public policies and new strategies to encourage vegetable consumption among college students are indispensable, especially targeting subgroups with even lower intakes, such as males and those living outside family home.

The Associations between Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health Behaviors among College Students

“…Interestingly, the literature seems to have no general consensus regarding the direction of gender differences in dietary behaviors. Unlike the former evidences we mentioned, some studies found that females have a higher intake of fruit [20] and vegetables than males [20,21]. In addition, studies have found that individuals who place the utmost importance on health tend to adopt healthy dietary and exercise behaviors [14,15].…”

Sense of generalised self-efficacy and pro-health behaviours of Polish and Spanish physical education students

“…al., 2016), as well as in Chinese, Brazilian, Spanish and American students (Hu et al, 2016;Alvarenga Mdos, Lourenço, Philippi, Scagliusi, 2013; Navarro-Gonzalez, Periago-Caston, Vidana-Gaytan, Rodriguez-Tadeo, 2019; Yahia, Wang, Rapley, Dey, 2016). Insufficient vegetable consumption among students has also been confirmed in a systematic review of works from 2009−2018 (Rodrigues et al, 2019).…”

Food Next Door: From Food Literacy to Citizenship on a College Campus

“…From our food literacy survey, more than 75% of the participants in our pilot study, who were mainly nursing and health sciences students, scored below 75%. Females scored higher than males, which should not be surprising, as a recent scoping review shows that being female is a predictor of healthy eating on college campuses [ 51 ]. The authors also highlighted influential factors for healthy eating which were food literacy-related constructs such as nutrition knowledge but also perceived happiness, stress, and students valuing healthy eating as important.…”

“…The authors also highlighted influential factors for healthy eating which were food literacy-related constructs such as nutrition knowledge but also perceived happiness, stress, and students valuing healthy eating as important. They also found that students’ openness to new experiences [ 51 ] can influence healthy eating. FND is one of those new experiences for students on college campuses with food literacy opportunities arising from dining services.…”