Document Type

Article

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The prevalence of obesity has prompted calls for broad public health education solutions to reduce, if not reverse, overweight and obesity among college students in the United States. This study investigated change in student dietary behavior and food choices following an education intervention that introduced the Mediterranean diet (MD) as a weight management tool in a Houston, Texas community college. Methods: Online survey data were collected at pre-test and post-test assessments from a convenience sample of 65 college students enrolled in an online undergraduate nutrition course during the summer of 2013. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) survey evaluated dietary behavior change based on the MD Principals. Results: The intervention improved total participant population from a mean KIDMED score of poor (4.12) to a mean score of high (8.45), indicating improved dietary behavior change, particularly among men. Significant differences in KIDMED change scores by ethnicity and heart disease (HD) history were also observed. Conclusion: This study provides a unique pedagogical illustration of e-learning to promote MD patterns among college student populations.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32398/cjhp.v12i2.2155

Rights

The Californian Journal of Health Promotion is an open access, web-based journal. Authors retain copyright of published articles. In addition, authors agree to assign a Creative Commons 4.0 international license (CC-BY 4.0 intl) to their work.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Aboul-Enein, B. H., & Bernstein, J. (2014). Promoting Dietary Behavior Using the Mediterranean Diet in an Online College Environment. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 12(2), 107-111. https://doi.org/10.32398/cjhp.v12i2.2155

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