Nutrition education improves diet quality in university students.

A simple university nutrition program helped students eat healthier, reduce ultra-processed foods and show encouraging signs of improved mental well-being, highlighting how small dietary changes can support both body and mind.

Study: Changes in dietary habits and mental well-being among university students following an educational intervention: a pilot study.. Image Credit: RossHelen/Shutterstock.com

A new study was published in scientific report The benefits of implementing nutrition education programs in universities have been highlighted, including positive trends in improved diet quality and students’ mental well-being.

Ultra-processed foods linked to poor mental health

The increasing popularity of processed and ultra-processed foods has become a major public health challenge worldwide, as these foods are known to increase the risk of cardiometabolic as well as mental health disorders, especially in adolescents and young adults.

Recent global estimates show that approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide are living with obesity or overweight and 970 million suffer from mental disorders.

Modifiable lifestyle factors play an important role in controlling the risks of both physical and mental disorders. Consuming a healthy, balanced diet and regular physical activity has been shown to improve cardiometabolic health and reduce the risk of emotional distress such as depression and anxiety.

Short-term nutritional interventions have shown beneficial results, including improvements in diet quality and dietary habits, and improved metabolism. Compared with single-component or short-term interventions, long-term multi-component interventions are associated with greater improvements in dietary habits, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Given the known benefits of nutrition interventions and the lack of research on the mental health impact of these interventions among Chilean students, researchers from the University of Finis Terrae, Chile, evaluated the impact of a nutrition education program on diet quality and mental well-being among Chilean university students.

Students participated in seminars, snack sessions and cooking guidance

The study involved 31 university students aged 18 to 20. Participants participated in a nutrition education program for three months, which included seminars, healthy snack breaks, and a book that provided information on nutrition and health and provided easy, inexpensive recipes for preparing real, healthy meals.

Participants’ dietary intake and mental well-being were assessed before and after the intervention using an automated self-administered dietary assessment tool and a validated mental well-being scale, respectively.

The study was designed as a pilot before and after intervention without a control group, meaning the findings should be interpreted cautiously and causation cannot be established.

Nutrition program reduced consumption of ultra-processed food

Assessment of macronutrient intake (protein, fat, and carbohydrate) revealed a substantial increase in the proportion of students whose carbohydrate and fat intake fell within the recommended limits after completion of the nutrition education program. However, participants’ protein intake was adequate at baseline and after the intervention period.

Assessment of micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) and food group intake revealed that calcium and sodium intake at baseline in participants was below and above the recommended limits, respectively. After the intervention, calcium intake increased, and sodium intake decreased significantly, no longer statistically different from the recommended intake limits.

Fruit intake increased approximately 2-fold after the intervention; However, it remained below the recommended limit. In contrast, intake of processed and ultra-processed foods decreased significantly after the intervention. Intake of dairy products, vegetables and total fiber remained below recommended limits at both time points and showed no change after the intervention.

Post-intervention assessment of participants’ mental well-being showed moderate increases in subjective well-being on items related to cognitive clarity, social connectedness, and decision making. However, affective and self-perception items remained largely unchanged after the intervention. Although overall mental well-being scores increased from low to moderate ranges, these changes were not statistically significant.

Impact of dietary patterns on mental health

Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive association between sodium and saturated fat intake among participants at baseline. This association weakened substantially over time during the intervention period.

A significant inverse association was observed between sodium intake and mental well-being at baseline, which disappeared after the intervention. These findings indicate a possible attenuation of unhealthy diet-mental well-being associations after the intervention.

Nutrition education shows targeted benefits for students’ health

The study highlights the utility of structured nutrition education interventions in improving diet quality and supporting favorable trends in mental well-being among university students.

Overall, the findings indicate that the nutrition education program was associated with beneficial changes in immediately actionable behaviors, such as restricting sodium intake and reducing intake of processed and ultra-processed foods. However, this intervention may be less effective in changing habit-dependent behaviors, such as increasing intake of vegetables and dietary fiber.

Notably, the findings indicate that even partial improvements in dietary patterns may contribute to favorable trends in some aspects of mental well-being among university students, although the study did not evaluate long-term outcomes.

With regard to mental well-being, the study showed that the nutrition education program was associated with increased perceptions of interpersonal closeness and personal autonomy. The observed improvement in overall mental well-being scores among participants after the intervention may be due to anti-inflammatory and gut health-improving responses caused by increased fruit and calcium intake and decreased sodium and ultra-processed food intake; However, these biological mechanisms were not directly measured in the study.

Previous studies involving Chilean university students have reported an increased risk of lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating habits, and weight gain upon entry into higher education. Studies involving adult populations have shown that approximately 33% of women and 27% of men in Chile are living with obesity. Regarding mental health, studies have found emotional distress in 60% of adolescents.

Given the nutrition and mental health landscape in Chile, this study highlights the need for future large-scale and long-term research to identify specific program components that most effectively help students achieve nutritional adequacy and mental well-being.

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