Adhesió a la dieta mediterrània en els estudiants de Ciències de la Salut del Campus de Bellvitge

Health and the practice of healthy habits are central to the lives of university students and the WHO makes a special recommendation on promoting a healthy diet and physical exercise in school and university communities. Universities provide a particularly relevant context for such work because they also conduct research on health and help society advance in health matters. This article reports on the research on the health habits of students in health sciences degrees conducted by the work group Salut i Habits Saludables ("Health and healthy habits") of the Observatory on Students, Universitat de Barcelona. Using a descriptive, comparative and explanatory approach, this transversal, ex post facto study draws on a survey completed as part of the PREDIMED clinical trials. Specifically, the study examines the degree of knowledge and observance of a Mediterranean diet by 124 students completing bachelor's degrees in nursing, podiatry, dentistry and medicine at the Bellvitge Campus, Universitat de Barcelona, during the academic year 2013-2014. The first results show that although students are generally aware of the various constituents of this diet , their own eating habits are not always informed by this knowledge. The article proposes that identifying the health-related variables can provide a basis for defining strategic intervention policies.