Students attending the University of Malta are consuming less fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish and more meat, confirming that Maltese dietary patterns have become more Westernised, a study conducted by the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition has found.
A cross-sectional pilot study assessed University students’ adherence to the Mediterranean diet, whereby a structured interview was conducted, and with the help of a photographic food atlas, students confirmed the types of food they are consuming.
The study plotted a score for “adherence” to the Mediterranean diet. It ranged from 0, the lowest level of adherence, to 18 points, with 8.8 tagged as a ‘medium’ score, with only 4 out of 50 students scoring highly between 13 and 18, and 10 scoring 0 – 6.
The low consumption of fruit and vegetables is actually lower than the World Health Organisation’s recommended amount of at least 400g daily. This is in line with a previous study on the dietary habits of the University of Malta students that reported students to consume only 1–2 servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis (Cefai & Camilleri, 2011).
The consumption of other foods that comprise the Mediterranean diet such as fish and olive oil was also low as only 1 in 5 students met the national recommendations for fish and olive oil consumption.
Among the recommendations made by the authors of the study, are the launching of more public health initiatives to switch back to the healthier Mediterranean diet and, subsequently, more policy-making.
The paper, published on the Malta Journal of Health Sciences and titled “Adherence to the Mediterranean Dietary pattern among University students”, can be read online.
