Invesigation of the effect of educational level on nutritional habits in individuals aged 18-35 apply to primary health care i̇nstitutions

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the educational level of individuals between the ages of 18-35 who applied to a primary health care institution on their nutritional habits. The sample of the study consists of 356 individuals (198 women, 158 men) aged between 18-35 years, who applied to the Campus Family Health Center in Serdivan district of Sakarya for various reasons and agreed to participate to the research. The research was carried out between January 2018 and May 2018. The data were obtained by using a face-to-face interview technique with a data collection form that questions socio-demographic information and nutritional habits of individuals. The data obtained were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 package program. Significance was evaluated at the level of p <0.05. In the form, the participants' information such as age, marital status, education, and working status, height-weight information, body perceptions, physical activity status, current diseases, and their nutritional habits were questioned. The average age of the individuals participating in the research is 28,098 ± 5,128. The education levels of the individuals are grouped as literate/primary school, middle school / high school and university/master/doctorate. Body mass index (BMI) of 29.0% of the participants is overweight and obese according to the World Health Organization classification. A statistically significant difference was determined between the educational level of the participants and their BMI (p = 0.002). As the educational level of the individuals increased, a significant decrease was determined in their BMI. In our study, it was determined that individuals with high education level had breakfast more frequently, but they skipped lunch more frequently, they tried to buy food that they thought was good quality by considering labels, content, brands, and they gave importance to the expiration date. As the level of education of the participant's increases, the frequency of physical activity increases. All these factors are thought to be the cause of lower BMI in individuals with higher educational levels.