Cross-sectional survey on status of snack consuming among college students in Nanjing City

Objective To understand the status of snack consuming among college students in Nanjing City.Methods A total of 739 college students were sampled by the multi-stage random cluster sampling method.The information was investigated by questionnaires. Results All the college students(100%) had the habit of consuming snacks with different frequencies.The main reasons were hungry/thirsty and silly.The main consideration for choosing snacks was good taste.The most common time for snacks was post-dinner and weekend/holiday.While watching TV,traveling and gathering,the students had more snacks,and 68.1%,63.1%,50.4% and 55.1% of them had cereal snacks,vegetable and fruit snacks,milk snacks and beverage snacks more than three times per week,49.0% of students had candy snacks at least once a week,and 68.3% of students did not had nut snacks once a week. Conclusions Basing on the snack consuming characteristics of college students,we should strengthen the nutrition health education which will help them to choose snacks reasonably.