Survey on the Intake of Food Additives by College Students over a Week

Aims: We conducted the survey to identify the amount of food additives consumed by college students within a week. Most college students are not even aware of the food additives used in foods part of their daily intake. The contamination by food additives is one of the adverse effects of the consuming convenience foods.

Study Design: Students recorded all the foods consumed by them over either seven consecutive or non-consecutive days and submitted as reports.

Location and Duration of Study: The survey was conducted at the Toyama Prefectural University. Data were collected from October 2015 to March 2016.

Methodology: Students took pictures of the food labels they consumed for a week and submitted reports. We classified the students based on whether they lived alone or with their family and analyzed the total amount of food additives consumed, frequency of eating out, and frequency of having breakfast. We also analyzed the data based on gender.

Results: There was no significant difference between the students who lived alone or with their family regarding the amount of food additives consumed and frequency of eating out. Further, students who lived with their family showed a higher frequency of having breakfast than those who lived alone.

Conclusion: We found no significant differences in the consumption of food additives based on the students’ gender or living situation. The students in this study became aware of the amount of food additives consumed by them as a part of their daily diet, which may help them pay more attention to the meals they consume daily and improve their dietary pattern.