“Because it was cheap, because it was on sale”: Essential nutrient intake at USU
Class
Article
Graduation Year
2019
College
College of Science
Department
Biology Department
Faculty Mentor
Michelle Grocke
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
The “freshman 15” is common folklore on college campuses. So too is the understanding that ramen and pizza are the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of champions and that Mountain Dew with a shot of Monster is the elixir of life. In this poster, we will seek to identify in what ways essential nutrient intake differs between college classes (e.g. freshmen, sophomores, etc.) at Utah State University, focusing specifically on water soluble vitamins. We used a convenient snowballing sample to conduct a 24 hour food recall with 5-8 participants per college class. Additionally, each interview included basic demographic information that we believed could impact nutritional intake: Employment status, income, gender, residency (on or off campus), meal plan, marital status, number of children, religious identity, transportation access, and the number of credits that each participant is currently taking, as well as height, weight, and age. Water soluble vitamins are constantly flushed from the body, thus they need to be replaced daily. For this reason, students should be eating foods that contain these vitamins every day. We utilized the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) dataset to calculate water-soluable vitamin values for each participant based upon their 24 hour diet recalls. We then entered these values into SPSS and compared to see whether they differed significantly from the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for each participant’s age and gender. Where RDA values are not available we used adequate intake (AI) values. Because participant observation is an integral part of any anthropological study, we also accompanied and observed participants when they went to the grocery store, to understand what factors went into choosing foods.
Location
South Atrium
Start Date
4-13-2017 12:00 PM
End Date
4-13-2017 1:15 PM
Erica's Professional portrait
“Because it was cheap, because it was on sale”: Essential nutrient intake at USU
South Atrium
The “freshman 15” is common folklore on college campuses. So too is the understanding that ramen and pizza are the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of champions and that Mountain Dew with a shot of Monster is the elixir of life. In this poster, we will seek to identify in what ways essential nutrient intake differs between college classes (e.g. freshmen, sophomores, etc.) at Utah State University, focusing specifically on water soluble vitamins. We used a convenient snowballing sample to conduct a 24 hour food recall with 5-8 participants per college class. Additionally, each interview included basic demographic information that we believed could impact nutritional intake: Employment status, income, gender, residency (on or off campus), meal plan, marital status, number of children, religious identity, transportation access, and the number of credits that each participant is currently taking, as well as height, weight, and age. Water soluble vitamins are constantly flushed from the body, thus they need to be replaced daily. For this reason, students should be eating foods that contain these vitamins every day. We utilized the USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) dataset to calculate water-soluable vitamin values for each participant based upon their 24 hour diet recalls. We then entered these values into SPSS and compared to see whether they differed significantly from the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for each participant’s age and gender. Where RDA values are not available we used adequate intake (AI) values. Because participant observation is an integral part of any anthropological study, we also accompanied and observed participants when they went to the grocery store, to understand what factors went into choosing foods.