Is the college environment adequate for accessing to nutrition education

This study designed by understanding the nutrition knowledge, attitude and nutrition related practices of non-nutrition major college students to know if the current colleges provide adequate environment for learning nutrition. The relationship between nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices were also investigated. A questionnaire which was developed to measure students' nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and practices, was distributed to 2413 non-nutrition major college students who were selected by multiple stage sampling from all colleges in Taiwan. The questionnaire contained 34 multiple choice questions concerning nutrition knowledge, 25 nutrition attitude statements, 28 nutrition practice statements, and demographics information. There were 2103 returned questionnaires representing an 87.15% response rate. The mean nutrition knowledge score was 20.9 ±4.3 or 61% correct. The mean attitude score was 64.2 ± 10.4 or 51.3% of the highest possible score. Nutrition knowledge and attitudes were positively correlated (r =0.33, p< 0.05). Results also showed that positive attitude correlated with good dietary practices. Forty two percent of the subjects were aware of the importance and had the motivation to learn nutrition. However, they did not know how or where to get the correct information. Our results indicate that college students need to improve their nutrition knowledge and attitudes and their dietary practices. The importance of nutrition in college curriculums and improvement of the learning environment relative to nutrition need to be emphasized.