title: Is Healthier Nutrition Behaviour Associated with Better Self-Reported Health and Less Health Complaints? Evidence from Turku, Finland.
abstract: We examined nutrition behaviour, self-reported health and 20 health complaints of undergraduates in Finland. Students at the University of Turku in Finland participated in a cross-sectional online survey (N = 1189). For nutrition behaviour, we computed two composite food intake pattern scores (sweets, cakes and snacks; and fruits and vegetables), a dietary guideline adherence index and the subjective importance of healthy eating. Multinomial logistic regression assessed the association of students' nutrition behaviour with three levels of self-reported health, controlling for many potential confounders (age, sex, living with partner, economic situation, moderate physical activity, Faculty and BMI). Factor analysis of the 20 health complaints revealed three components (psychological, pains/aches and circulatory/breathing symptoms). Multiple linear regression tested the association of students' eating habits with the three components of health complaints, controlling for the same confounders. Fruits and raw and cooked vegetable consumption, dietary guideline adherence index and subjective importance of healthy eating were highest among students with excellent/very good self-reported health, exhibiting a decreasing trend for those individuals with poor/fair self-reported health. High levels of psychological symptoms were associated with decreased consumption of fruits and vegetables, less dietary guideline adherence and less subjective importance of healthy eating. Pain/aches symptoms were associated with a higher consumption of sweets, cookies and snacks and a lower adherence to dietary guidelines. More healthy nutrition behaviour was consistently associated with better self-reported health and less health complaints. Of the four nutrition behaviour indicators we employed, the dietary guideline adherence index was the best indicator and exhibited the most consistent associations with self-reported health and health complaints.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Gloucestershire, Gloucester GL2-9HW, UK. walidansari@glos.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Walid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: El Ansari
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku FIN-20014, Finland. suominen@utu.fi.|Department of Public Health, University of Skövde, Skövde S-54128, Sweden. suominen@utu.fi.|Folkhälsan Research Center, FIN-00251 Helsinki, Finland. suominen@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suominen
authors.affiliation: Unit for Health Promotion Research, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark. gbergbeckhoff@health.sdu.dk.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berg-Beckhoff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004032:Diet; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D010146:Pain; D057566:Self Report; D062410:Snacks; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose
keywords: Finland; dietary guidelines adherence; eating healthy; food intake; gender; health complaints; student health