Lifestyle and fruit consumption: an investigation of university students in Uganda

Healthy food consumption involves regular fruit intake. Inadequate fruit consumption is associated with disease burdens such as cancer, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes. As such, an individual may choose to avoid health repercussions by adjusting his/her lifestyle. Individuals with long-term healthy lifestyle habits are likely high fruit consumers. However, few studies seem to have focused on the relationship certain aggregated lifestyle factors i.e. screen time; physical exercise; work, and sleep have with fruit consumption. Thus, the study sought to investigate the relationship between these aggregated lifestyle factors and fruit consumption of university students in Uganda.

The study used a correlational survey that was quantitative. The study population covered 59,998 university students. The researchers sampled 403 students using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire. The questionnaire items included lifestyle factors and food frequency questions regarding fruits. The researchers analyzed the data using SPSS (V23) and AMOS (V23) software for correlational and Confirmatory factor tests.

The results revealed that a university student’s lifestyle significantly influenced his/her fruit consumption (β = 5.470, t-value = 5.481, p-value = 0.000). The squared Multiple Correlation is 0.176.

Considering the health benefits of fruit consumption and based on the study results, health educators need to encourage fruit consumption by adjusting one’s lifestyle (exercises, screen time, work life, and sleep time).