Nutritional status, eating habits and perception of quality of life of university students of a Public University of the South of Minas Gerais

Introduction: The assessment of nutritional status is directly related to quality of life. Objective: to evaluate the nutritional status, eating habits and perception of quality of life of university students. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study, with university students enrolled in health and human sciences and letters courses, of both sexes. For the assessment of eating habits, the questionnaire of the Surveillance System for Risk and Protection Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (VIGITEL) was used. To analyze the perception of quality of life, the SF-36 questionnaire was used. Weight, height, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured. Results: It was observed that the majority of university students did not have health problems, with 26.0% (n=26) being underweight and 27.0% (n=27) being overweight. Regarding the perception of health status, in relation to a year ago, 33.0% (n=33) did not observe changes, however 29.0% (n=29) reported being in worse health. Regarding the consumption of meat with visible fat, there was a positive correlation between nutritional status and consumption of chicken with skin by university students in the health area (r=0.515; p<0.01). Conclusion: Most university students had inadequate nutritional status. In addition, contrary to what was expected, university students in the health field, at first with greater knowledge of healthy living practices, did not show better eating habits than university students in the humanities and letters area.