EATING PLACES AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' OVERWEIGHT

Background and objectives: College or university is a critical period regarding unhealthy changes in eating behaviours in students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the context of eating places 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 consumption of the main meals, it was observed that among those who ate breakfast at home (85.5%) a minority was overweight (24.6%) (p = 0.43). A similar behavior was observed for those who had lunch at home, who prepared their own packed-lunches and who bought packed-lunches (34.8%, 37.0% and 8.7%, respectively) with the minority identified as overweight (20,8%, 31,4% e 41,7%, respectively). Among those who generally ate fast-food the majority was classified as overweight (66.7%) (p=0.04). Having dinner at home was also related to a lower frequency of overweight (23.9%) (p=0.41) Conclusions: It was observed that the patterns of having lunch at home, taking home-made packed-lunches and of buying packed-lunches may be protective habits against overweight in university students.