title: Eating at the university canteen. Associations with socioeconomic status and healthier self-reported eating habits in France.
abstract: French university canteens offer structured meals at a fixed moderate price. We examined whether eating regularly at university canteens was associated with socioeconomic status (SES) or dietary practices. The study data came from a cross-sectional study of a random sample of 1723 students aged 18-24 years, in their first year of university in 2005-2006, enrolled in the universities of southeastern France (response rate=71%). Self-reported dietary practices were collected with a behavioral questionnaire. Adjusted logistic regressions showed that eating regularly at university canteens was less frequent among students with less than € 300 monthly resources and not living with their families (OR=0.68 [95%CI: 0.49-0.94]). It was also positively associated, regardless of SES, with the consumption of at least five servings of fruit/vegetables daily (OR=1.42 [1.05-1.92]) and one serving of meat/fish daily (OR=1.41 [1.13-1.76]) but not with either restricting fatty food (OR=1.04 [0.81-1.33]) or never/rarely adding salt to food (OR=1.06 [0.85-1.32]). Eating regularly at university canteens was less frequent among less well-off students and was positively associated with some healthier self-reported dietary habits. Further research is needed to confirm these results in the overall student population in France and to understand the determinants of university canteen utilization.
authors.affiliation: INSERM, U912 (SE4S), 23 rue Stanislas Torrents, 13006 Marseille, France. valerie.guagliardo@inserm.fr
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guagliardo
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lions
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Darmon
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004032:Diet; D005190:Family; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D005602:France; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D057566:Self Report; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult