AUTHOR=Li Xingbo , Braakhuis Andrea , Li Zengning , Roy Rajshri 

TITLE=How Does the University Food Environment Impact Student Dietary Behaviors? A Systematic Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.840818

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.840818

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=The food environment has been implicated in creating an obesogenic generation, and while previous research has focused on population wide initiatives, the university population resides in a research gap. To explore detailed components of the university food environment and what shaped dietary behaviours, we retrieved literature from the following databases: ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE. Eleven studies where identified for qualitative content analysis and study quality assessment identified most of the studies as of good quality (n 8) and some as of fair quality (n 3). The certainty of evidence remained at low level for all (n 11) studies due to the cross-sectional, observational nature of studies. Three major themes emerged: 1) food environment; 2) student perceptions; and 3) dietary outcome. In a university food environment, taste of food was paramount for students’ food choices, followed by availability of food and price of food. When university students perceive and choose foods and beverages, they sometimes regard unhealthy foods and beverages as healthy options. Diet quality of university students is more susceptible to living arrangements and socioeconomic status, but higher salt, fat, and added sugar consumption generally resulted in poorer quality of diet on campus. Future research could use novel methods to explore a wider range and deeper level of students’ dietary behaviour determinants in university food environments.