| Abstract [eng] |
Background. Healthy eating habits are essential to maintain a quality and fulfilling life. However, it is becoming very noticeable that the diet of population often does not meet the recommendations of a healthy life, the number of overweight and obese people is increasing rapidly, which indicates poor eating habits. The start of studies is considered to be a very important stage in life, which associates with major changes, and as a result leads to changes in eating habits. Newly formed habits are changing the consumption of one of the main food groups – milk and dairy products. The aim is to identify students’ consumption of milk and dairy products and its changing trends. The objectives are to determine students’ consumption of milk and dairy products; To evaluate the changing tendencies of student’s milk and dairy consumption; To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ milk and dairy product consumption habits. Research methods. Students of Vilnius University (VU) Faculty of Medicine (MF) and Faculty of Philology (FLF) were interviewed using the questionnaire method. A total of 501 students from both Medicine and Philology faculties were interviewed during the research. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics (SSPS) software package (version 26). Microsoft Office Excel 2016 was used to describe the data. Differences between groups were considered to be statistically significant at p ≤ 0,05. Results. Although 87,4% of students consume milk, the consumption percentage of dairy products is higher at 98,2%. Whatsoever, students’ consumption of milk and dairy products is too low, with only a third of respondents consuming milk and dairy products more than five times a week. Nearly a third of students said that their milk and dairy products consumption habits had changed since they started studying. The majority of student from the Faculty of Medicine, who live with their parents and do not buy food on their own, answered that the consumption habits of milk and dairy products did not change during the years of studies. The results of study showed that coronavirus infection (COVID-19) had little effect on students’ consumption habits of milk and dairy products, as only 7,2% of respondents said that the pandemic changed their habits of milk and dairy products consumption. Conclusions. Even though most of the interviewed students consume milk, it is too rare – only a third of respondents consume milk only 1 or 2 times a week. Dairy products are consumed more often, almost 40% of respondents consume them 3-5 times per week. The main reason of consuming milk and its products was found out to be their taste, while the main reason for not consuming it was lactose intolerance. Curd and products from it, also fermented cheese were considered to be used most commonly. Almost 70% of the students stated that the consumption of milk and its products did not change after starting to study. The majority of students also said that the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect their milk and dairy consumption habits. Keywords. Milk, dairy products, students, eating habits, consumption. |
