Snacking Analysis of SUU Students 1
Snacking Analysis of SUU Students
Heather Evans, Jameson Pace, Aspen Sanderson, Dana Stone
Southern Utah University
Abstract
Snacking Analysis of SUU Students
Over the years many studies have been conducted across the U.S and internationally regarding the snacking and “unhealthy” eating habits of college students. What is the first thought that comes to mind when asked, “Do you think college students; weather freshman or about to graduate, make healthier choices when it comes to not only snacks but meals as well?". The vast majority of people would all respond with similar answers, most assuming college students do not eat healthy. Stereotypes are constantly defining the general public’s view of a college student: lazy, broke and unhealthy. Perhaps the assumptions are true. I can remember how little I cared about what I was eating and the negative health effects on my body. In this introduction we will review two articles written and studies done on college students and snacking habits, and sum up our group’s hypothesis on our own class study we conducted. The first article I read was The Impact of Nutrition Education Interventions on the Dietary Habits of College Students in Developed Nations .I found this article to be very interesting and informative. It is the belief of the writers in this article that college students between the ages of 18 to 24 are not eating healthy consistently. They feel that students are not only engaging in unhealthy dieting, but skipping meals as well and consuming higher amounts of fast foods. A few factors that were thrown into consideration were demographics, age and gender, financial stability and common knowledge regarding nutrition. Not surprisingly enough this study revealed that young adults are not in fact knowledgeable in nutrition, they do not practice healthy eating on a regular basis, females are actually more health conscious and body conscious then males, and when a “nutrition education intervention” was implemented during the study they found that students experienced significant changes in their dietary habits.
Does this mean that across the United States, perhaps even throughout the world, nutrition and the importance of it in our lives takes a back seat? Let’s take a look at another article. Oregon State University surveyed the eating habits of 582 college students and found that women and men (mostly consisting of first year students) found that both were not getting the proper amount of fruits and vegetables. Male students had about five servings a week, slightly higher than female students who self-reported eating about four servings of fruits and vegetables. Even professor Brad Cardinal who is in the exercise and sport science department at Oregon State University expressed that proper eating and nutrition is not integrated enough into our society. He said the surveyed students came from OSU, where healthy options are available in dining halls. So it seems that assumptions are in fact correct based off of numerous studies and surveys conducted.
The study conducted by our class had 24 students complete a survey with a variety of questions. Only 22 actually filled out the surveys. The students were then rewarded with treats the next day, not knowing that what they took was going to be recorded. The treat choices were apples, chips, granola bars and candy bars. Our group hypothesized that the students would pick granola bars and candy bars. We felt that due to the class being at 11 am and so close to noon which is around the time that lunch is usually eaten the granola and candy bars would be the top pick since they are easy and convenient to eat, more filling and could be saved for later if wanted.
Method
The research participants consisted of a mainly freshman 1010 English class that meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00am until 11:50am. The students in the class were promised snacks upon completing a survey from Professor Combs. The survey was a red herring we really just wanted to monitor the choice in snack they made. The class consisted of 24 students, 22 of them filled out the survey. The survey was anonymous and consisted of nine questions total. Initially the survey had people list their gender, what year of college they were in, weather they lived at home, off campus, or on campus, and their age. Next, the survey had five true or false questions regarding their meal habits, social life, feelings on writing, snacking habits, and sleeping habits. Our class planned the snacks they would receive based on two healthy and two unhealthy choices. We also chose snacks that would be mess-less and cheep to buy. We then made a hypothesis to test with our research groups. The next day students were brought snacks and told to only pick one snack because another class needed to be given snacks as well. The snacks consisted of 25 Gala apples, 25 small candy bars consisting of 13 Snickers and 12 Twix, 25 peanut protein granola bars, and 25 small chip bags, four types of Lay's brand variety. Our professor counted the remaining snacks during our class period, to count how many snacks were grabbed by the freshmen class. We did this to see how many of which snack was taken, which allowed us to monitor what they chose without the class getting suspicious. The results gathered from this study were very interesting and not what we were expecting.
Results
Each snack offered had 25 samples. After conducting the experiment with 24 students there were 22 bags of chips remaining, 18 granola bars left, 14 apples still there, and 18 candy bars remaining as well. Thus 3 of the students left with chips, 7 students left with granola bars, 7 left with candy bars, while 10 students left with apples. Therefore 12% of the chips were missing, 28% of both the granola bars and candy bars were taken, and 44% of the apples were chosen.
After checking the number of remaining snacks to see if all 24 students took an item there was a total of 27 items taken instead of the predicted 24. Therefore, multiple students took more than one item. Of the now 27 students, instead of the original number of 24, being represented, 37% of the students chose apples over the other snacks provided. 26% of the students chose granola bars. There was also another 26% that chose the candy bars as their snack of choice. The remaining 11% of the students chose the bags of chips over the other snacks.
While still observing the students as they left the classroom it was seen that 2 of the students took an additional candy bar on their way out.
Of the survey given to the class only 22 of the 24 students in the classroom participated in the survey. The results of the survey further our discussion with 10 males being represented, 11 females, and 1 survey that wasn’t marked either way. With a class being chosen at random 14 freshmen were surveyed, 6 sophomores, and 2 juniors made up the student body of the class. Of this student body 5 lived on campus, 14 students lived off campus, while the remaining 5 lived at home.
Many ages were represented in this survey. The ages are as follows:
Age / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 23 / 28 / 31Students / 1 / 10 / 5 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1
The number of students that responded to the statement “I eat regularly scheduled, usually healthy, meals” true was 12. While the remaining 10 students did not say they eat scheduled healthy meals.
In response to the statement “I usually eat healthy snacks when given the opportunity” 16 students responded that they would choose the healthier snack and 6 students said that they wouldn’t.
Note-These results represent the information off of the surveys that we thought were important to our experiment conducted.
Discussion
We hypothesized that the students chose granola and candy bars, both for the fact that it is right before lunch, these snacks are convenient, easy to eat, less messy or can be saved for later. The results showed that they took more apples, proving our hypothesis wrong. We think this happened because apples are more expensive and when they are free and available then why not take them. The student surveys support that because they all say that if given the chance they would chose the healthy snacks.
If someone were to try and duplicate the experiment, they should observe the students better by making sure they only take one snack. The numbers did not match up in our specific experiment because there were snacks unaccounted for. We believe this happened because students took more than was instructed or perhaps some were misplaced. There were more items taken than students in the class and less surveys were filled out than students. However, we still included it in our data. For this reason, if someone were to duplicate the experiment they would need to be extra careful and make sure the numbers matched up. This could be accomplished by giving the snacks the same day and having the students come up one by one, turn in the survey and take ONE snack while watching them carefully.
Another thing that should be done is having more variety when it comes to the snacks. Perhaps it was just convenient that they took the apples because their favorite candy bar wasn't available, they don’t like that kind of verity pack, or those specific granola bars are too crummy and messy for them. We believe that was part of the limitations of this “experiment.” Other limitations may include the fact that it was only one class that was “tested”, and the specific age group, for example the majority of participants were freshmen who are just learning how to take care of themselves.
We believe that this is an important topic. Eating healthy helps in every aspect of life; self-esteem, feeling good physically, academic performance, and an increasing lifespan are just a few areas. We would argue that people are aware of being unhealthy and do try. The results support that very argument. Although no one seems to really care as much as they should until they are more educated about the topic. Reading labels, knowing what you’re really eating or understanding what the nutrition facts mean are all very important. There are so many tricks that can be played to make you think what you are eating isn't that bad. We believe that the media plays a big role in those “tricks”. Seeing these advertisements that are so well presented has an impact on how we think.
People should care about how they eat because eating healthy makes a big difference. As I mentioned before, it prolongs life, helps academically, and if you develop good eating habits when you are young you will continue those habits later in life. We should care about our bodies and what we are putting into them. We should take the time to eat the meals necessary to stay healthy and strong. We have things to learn, studying that we need to be alert for, and goals we want to accomplish. We would feel so much better and our academic performance will increase if we take care of ourselves, this all starts with healthy eating habits.
References
Author Pei Lin Lua and author Wan Dali Wan Putri Elena, The Impact of Nutrition Education Interventions on the Dietary Habits of College Students in Developed Nations: A brief Review, Malays J Med Sci. 2012 Jan-Mar; 19(1): 4–14.
Lead Author OSU Alum Kin-Kit “Ben” Li, co-authored by associate professor Vicki Ebbeck and former OSU Ph.D. students Rebecca Concepcion, Tucker Readdy, Hyo Lee and Erica Woekel, 08/17/2011,
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