Attending a university or college can be a stressful experience
for many college students [26]. Previous studies
found that behavioral consequences of stress may affect
eating habits [27,28]. People living in a stressful society
tend to eat more as a way of coping with stress [26]. A
possible new innovation in this study was the association
between eating habits and psychosocial factors among
Malaysian medical students; eating habits score in this
study was significantly lower among those who answered
‘yes’ on the following statements: “eat because of feeling
lonely”, “eat until stomach hurts”, “eat because of feeling
upset or nervous” and “eat because of feeling bored”.
Kagan & Squires, (1984) [16] suggested that uncontrolled
eating patterns among college students could be
due to compulsive eating behaviors. With the paradigm
shift towards industrialization and cultural change globally,
information on healthy diet has become scarce in
many developing and developed nations. The most vulnerable
group, being university students, have adopted
unhealthy eating behaviors due to reduced availability,
affordability and accessibility of healthy diet in university
campuses and surrounding food outlets. This study
exhibited multi-factorial causes affecting eating habits
among Malaysian university students. Understanding the
contexts of such multi-factorial causes may help healthy
food promotional activities by parents, university authorities,
food providers and health promotion officers.
Results of this study may help to create a foundation for
possible interventional programs on healthy eating
habits promotions. Blended with different socio-cultural
and psychological attributes across different regions, a
unified healthy eating policy should be drafted, being potentially
amalgamated and practiced in all regions including
developing and developed nations.