Dietary habits and health effects among university students. A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the existing literature on studies related to the eating habits of young university students, as well as the impact that these habits have on their health. To this end, a Systematic Method: A Systematic Literature Review has been carried out, based on the criteria proposed by Petticrew & Roberts (2006) using the PRISMA standards. Articles of a practical nature, indexed in the electronic databases: Scopus, EBSCOhost and ScienceDirect, published in the period 2000-2020, were analyzed. The initial search yielded 2,397 articles, of which 57 were chosen for in-depth review, after applying the selection criteria. Results: The literature review showed that the investigations have been published in specialized Health Sciences journals, in countries such as the United States (14.04 %), Saudi Arabia (14.04 %) and Spain (10.53 %), using cross-sectional designs based on the collection of primary sources (66.67 %). In addition, the results showed that university students do not practice healthy eating habits (87.72 %). In fact, their diet is characterized by being little varied and of low nutritional quality, with a high consumption of sweets (57.89 %), fats (45.61 %) and ultra-processed foods (45.61 %), compared to a low intake of fruits and vegetables (71.93 %). Furthermore, bad eating habits have a high incidence on health (73.91 %), such as being overweight (47.21 %), cardiovascular diseases (18.18 %) and Diabetes (14.55 %). Discussions: The studies reviewed showed that there is a high prevalence between poor eating habits and the risk of being overweight and obese, as well as the future appearance of non-communicable chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and Diabetes.