A dietary analysis on diets of students who “cook from scratch” versus students who do not.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this research was to undertake a dietary analysis with female Food Science and Technology students at a Welsh University, those who cook from scratch and those who do not, to examine any differences or similarities in nutrient intakes compared to the UK dietary reference values (DRV) and Eatwell guide (EG). Methods: Four participants, two who identified themselves as cooking from scratch and two who identified as eating mainly pre-prepared food provided completed questionnaires and estimated 7 day food diaries. Diets were analysed using a computerised dietary analysis package and compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The findings demonstrated that neither group had a particularly healthy diet, with the don’t cook group being closer to or meeting the DRV’s for Energy, total carbohydrates and sugars, dietary fibre (p<0.05), trans fat, calcium, folate (p<0.05), iron, potassium and B12. The do cook group were closer to the DRV’s for total, saturated, poly unsaturated and monounsaturated fats, sodium and chloride, iodine, Vitamins A (p<0.05), C and D. The cook from scratch group met more of the EG (73%) whilst the don’t cook group met only 45% of the targets. Conclusion: Aspects of both diets are healthy for instance the don’t cook group ate less sugar and more fibre but the do cook group ate less saturated fat and salt. However, the results from this study do not indicate that either eating style is healthier than the other when nutritionally analysed. Conversely, when judged against the EG the cook from scratch group have a more healthy diet. Differences in nutrient intakes therefore are likely to be due to factors other than whether individuals choose to cook from scratch or not. 6 Differences between the two assessment methods (DRV vs EG) indicate that the two methods are not exactly comparable.