SOCIALIZATION DURING MEALS AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' NUTRITIONAL STATUS

Background and objectives: Eating behaviour is an important factor influencing students' weight. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the context of socialization during meals and its association with the nutritional status of university students. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of data derived from the baseline of the "Longitudinal Study of Nutrition and Health in University Students (NUTSAU)", conducted in second-semester students of Rio de Janeiro Federal University - Macae Campus. The instrument used for data collection was a structured self-completion questionnaire. The anthropometric evaluation consisted of body mass and height measurements, and thus body mass index was calculated. Meal pattern was estimated based on six response options. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS program, version 19.0. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of UFRJ-Macae Campus. Results: The sample consisted of 147 university students. Regarding the realization of the main meals, it was observed that among those who ate breakfast socializing with family (21.2%) and friends (16.8%), the minority was overweight (27.6% and 17.4% %, respectively) (p = 0.43). A similar behavior was observed for those who had lunch socializing with friends (68.6%) with the minority identified as overweight (23.4%) (p = 0.16). Additionally, the habit of having dinner socializing with family members (34.4%) and friends (18.0%) was related to a lower frequency of overweight (27.3% and 30.4%, respectively) (p = 0.50). Conclusions: We did not observe statistically significant associations between socialization during meals and nutritional status. However, our data indicate a clinical relevance of this habit as a protective factor against overweight.