School-based intervention to promote healty food lifestyle in Japanese university students

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K00916
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Gifu University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Mayumi 岐阜大学, 保健管理センター, 教授 (40313879)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 西尾 彰泰 岐阜大学, 保健管理センター, 准教授 (90402172) ; 堀田 亮 岐阜大学, 保健管理センター, 助教 (10733074)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 大学生 / 食育 / 栄養素摂取 / 若年成人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A sample of Japanese university students was randomly divided into two groups, each comprising 600 students: the dietary education group, to whom food education was provided, and the control group, to whom health education excluding food education was provided. The experiment lasted for a year. Before and after this, participants had their nutrient intake estimated, blood testing for metabolic conditions, a mental health scale test, and a lifestyle background survey. Changes between the participants before and after the experiment were compared between the two groups.
Changes were significantly smaller in the dietary education group; in particular, undesirable changes in nutrient intake such as an increase in lipid intake and a decrease in dietary fiber intake were suppressed in the dietary education group. Dietary education is suggested to be effective in preventing the deterioration of nutritional intake balance as dietary habits are easy to change after entering university.

Free Research Field

健康科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本人大学生1年生1200人を対象に、定期的に食育を提供する「食育群」と食育以外の健康教育を提供する「対象群」に分け、食育を１年間実施する効果をプロスペクティブに検討した。この両群に対し、①栄養素摂取量、②各種血液検査、③心の健康度、④生活背景を調査し、その前後の変化を比較した。その結果、脂質摂取量の増加、食物繊維摂取量の低下などの望ましくない変化が「食育群」で抑えられ、大学入学後に食育を提供することは栄養摂取バランスの悪化を防ぐことに有用であることが、科学的根拠として示された。この成果は今後の若年成人における食育を含む保健指導施策決定に役立ち社会貢献度の高い成果と考える。