Changes of eating habits and alcohol drinking among medical students occurring during their undergraduate study

The aim of our study was to analyse differences in dietary habits and alcohol drinking between 1st- and 4th-year medical students. The research was designed as a cross-sectional questionnaire study. The data were collected during the winter semester of the academic year 2015/2016. Prevalence rates of the following aspects were assessed and compared between 1st- and 4th-year medical students at the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia: (a) breakfast skipping; (b) having fewer than three main meals a day; (c) fresh fruits and vegetables consumption less than once a day; (d) eating sweets every day; (e) eating in fast-food restaurants at least once a week; and (f) alcohol consumption (beer, wine, spirits) at least once a week. Less than one in five students reported their breakfast skipping and most of them had only 1 or 2 main meals daily. About half of the respondents consumed fruits and vegetables insufficiently and less than one quarter of them reported eating meals in fast-food restaurants weekly. Daily consumption of sweets in males doubled in the 4th year if compared to the 1st year of the study. While drinking patterns in males did not show differences between study years, in females, alcohol drinking dominated in the 4th year. Finally, it may be concluded that most aspects of dietary habits in medical students did not differ between the younger and the older ones. Irregular eating presents a particular problem. Alcohol drinking in females showed a possible increasing tendency during their studies.