The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between attitudes towards healthy nutrition, body perception and the factors affecting them in medical students

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between attitudes towards healthy nutrition, body perception and the factors affecting them in medical students. Materials and Methods: Our study was planned in cross-sectional descriptive type and was conducted between 01.04.2023 and 30.06.2023 with 198 participants who were studying at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University Faculty of Medicine and who agreed to participate in the study. Participants were administered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Healthy Eating Scale (ATHS) and the Body Perception Scale (BPS). Results: A total of 198 participants, 133 women and 65 men, participated in our study. 59.6% of the participants did not think that they had a healthy diet. 52.5% of them used the internet as a source of information about healthy nutrition. The most frequently skipped meal (39.9%) was breakfast. 62.1% of the participants did not do sports. The mean Body Perception Scale score of the participants was 143. The mean score of the Attitudes Toward Healthy Eating Scale Knowledge About Nutrition subscale was 21.03. Participants aged 25 years and older had the highest mean Body Perception Scale score (p=0.028). Women had the highest mean score for Positive Nutrition (17.73). Non-smokers had the highest mean score (74.43) on the Attitudes Toward Healthy Eating Scale. The mean Positive Eating Habits score (p=0.017) and the mean Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating Scale score (p=0.011) of the participants who practiced regular sports were higher than those who did not. A low level positive correlation was found between Body Perception Scale score and Knowledge About Nutrition score (p=0.046). A moderate negative correlation was found between Knowledge about Nutrition and Dietary Emotion score (p=0.000). There was a moderate positive correlation between the score of Affect Towards Nutrition and Bad Eating Habits (p=0,000). Conclusion: In our study, it is seen that nutrition is affected by many factors such as gender, age, educational status, place of university education, regular sports practice and smoking. It was seen that individuals with high body satisfaction generally had more knowledge about nutrition. Individuals with high knowledge about nutrition showed less emotional reactions towards nutrition. Individuals with high knowledge about nutrition had more positive eating habits. Physicians who graduated from medical faculties are trained to take part in primary health care services. It is important that they can provide healthy nutrition education to the people they serve. Significant gains can be achieved on body perception and nutritional problems by evaluating the body perception of students, identifying students with negative body perception, following up and treating them, and referring them to higher levels for further examination and treatment in patients with eating disorders.