Vigorous Physical Activity and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in a Large Cohort of College Students

The examination of lifestyle behaviors among college students is important for health educators. Thus, in this study we investigated vigorous physical activity (VPA) and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption among a large cohort of college students who responded to the 2005 Utah Higher Education Health Behavior Survey. College students aged 18 years and older throughout the state of Utah were invited to participate in the survey, an anonymous questionnaire inquiring about various health behaviors. VPA was defined by a single question asking how many days during the past week students participated in activities that made them "sweat or breathe hard" for at least 30 minutes. FV questions were from the Behavioral Risk factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and were reduced according to BRFSS guidelines. Data were cleaned so only undergraduate students between the ages of 18-30 remained for the final analyses. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and t-tests were calculated. There were 8,319 participants in the final sample (age 21.44 ± 2.72 years BMI = 23.89 ± 4.37, kg/m², 92.85% Caucasian). Overall, respondents engaged in 2.65 ± 0.94 days of VPA per week and consumed 3.30 ± 4.25 FV servings per day. Males (n = 3,870, age, 22.24 ± 2.63 BMI = 24.75 ± 4.21 kg/m² 92.43% Caucasian) engaged in 2.74 ± 1.00 days of VPA and consumed 3.36 ± 4.27 FV servings per day. Females (n = 4,449, age = 20.75 ± 2.61, BMI = 23.15 ± 4.38 kg/m², 93.22% Caucasian) engaged in 2.56 ± 0.87 days of VPA per week and consumed 3.26 ± 4.22 FV servings per day. There was a small positive relationship between VPA and FV consumption (r = 0.16, p < 0.0001). These relationships were similar by gender (males: r =0.19, p < 0.0001; females: r = 0.13, p < 0.0001). When data were examined by those meeting (i.e., answering ≥ 3 days), and not meeting the VPA recommendation, vigorous exercisers ate more FV servings (t[8,140] = 13.21, p < 0.0001) than their less active counterparts. This result was consistent for males (t[3,813] = 10.73, p < 0.0001) and females (t[4,321] = 8.05, p < 0.0001). These findings suggest a small relationship between VPA and FV consumption. Further, students meeting the VPA recommendation consumed more FV than those not meeting recommendation. These findings are important to health educators seeking to understand the relationships between health-enhancing behaviors such as VPA and FV consumption.
Keyword(s): college level issues, exercise/fitness/physical activity, nutrition