Differences in Eating and Lifestyle Habits between First- and Sixth-Year Medical Students from Zagreb

Eating and lifestyle habits of first (n=169) and sixth (n=272) year students, aged 18 to 26 years, attending a Medical School in Zagreb, were compared related to the years of study. A self-administered questionnaire created for this study incorporated a food frequency questionnaire. Both year students reported similar number of meals per day, irregular consumption of meals, skipping breakfast, frequency of vegetables, fruits, cereals, sweets, milk and dairy products consumption, body mass index (BMI) calculated from self-reported weight and height and alcohol consumption. Significant differences between groups were observed in consuming supper (p=0.001), being on diet (p=0.032), intake of supplements (p=0.041), meat (p<0.001), dried meat (p=0.027), coffee and tea consumption (p=0.016), physical activity (p=0.041; p=0.016), and smoking (p=0.029). This study showed non-healthy eating and lifestyle behavior among Medical School students. We observed association between the year of study, and some of the eating habits and lifestyle factors.