Association between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits among undergraduate students in Islamabad and Rawalpindi: a cross-sectional comparative study of medical and non-medical disciplines

Obesity and cardiovascular diseases have become the leading causes of mortality. Factors affecting dietary habits are crucial for preventing these diseases. However, there is limited understanding of the relationship between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits. To assess and compare the nutritional knowledge and dietary practices among university students, and to determine the quality of nutritional knowledge and dietary habits among medical and non-medical students. A quantitative cross-sectional study, ethically approved by the institution, was conducted among the undergraduate population. The sample size was calculated via OpenEpi software with a 95% confidence interval and a 5% margin of error. Data collection was performed through a validated questionnaire via a convenience sampling technique. All descriptive and inferential statistical tests were conducted with IBM SPSS 26, and a p-value of < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance for all applied measures. The sample consisted of 382 participants (n = 191 medical and n = 191 non-medical), with a mean age of 21 ± 2.39 years. When nutritional knowledge was assessed in terms of categories, 86 (22.5%) had unsatisfactory knowledge, 234 (61.2%) had good nutritional knowledge, and 62 (16.2%) had quite good nutritional knowledge. Among the participants, n = 4 (1.04%) had inadequate eating habits, n = 282 (73.82%) had good eating habits, while n = 96 (25.1%) had quite good eating habits. Statistical tests revealed no significant correlation between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits (p = 0.106). There was a significant difference (p < 0.0001) in the nutritional knowledge of medical and non-medical students, but the same was not true for dietary habits (p = 0.576). A subgroup analysis of medical and non-medical students revealed no significant association (p > 0.05) between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits. There was no significant difference in findings between males and females. Nutritional knowledge is not associated with dietary habits and is higher in medical students, whereas dietary habits are similar in both medical and non-medical students. Therefore, future research should be more focused on other predictors of dietary habits, along with nutrition knowledge, and should implement a larger study that incorporates stratified random sampling. Also, nutrition education departments should make their courses more focused on behavioral change rather than the dissemination of knowledge.