Abstract

Background: Nutrition is one of the most important and modifiable environmental factor that may affect the neurocognitive development, which in turn has an impact on academic performance. Medical students generally tend to indulge in erratic lifestyle behaviors such as unhealthy eating habits, skipping meals, inadequate intake of nutrients, irregular sleep, and physical inactivity.
Objective: To examine the dietary habits among undergraduate medical students and to assess its impact on their academic performance
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional medical college–based study was carried out among 289 young medical college students of both sexes in the age group of 17 to 25 years. Following ethical clearance and consent, information regarding demographic profile, dietary habits, and academic performance was collected using self-administered questionnaire. Result: Of the 289 medical students, 42.9% were male students and 57.1% were female students and majority of them were on mixed diet. The study participants were grouped into two category as high (≥60%) and low (<60%) performers depending on their previous university examination results in percentage. The descriptive statistical analysis of possibly influencing factors such as fast food, aerated beverages, smoking, and alcohol consumption on academic performance 2 did not differ statistically across the dichotomized samples except for the consumption of fast food (χ = 14.632 df = 4, p = 0.006). The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) showed odds of higher academic performance in participants who never consumed fast food (aOR: 6.825, confidence interval [CI]: 2.048–22.747) when compared with the ones who consumed daily. Conclusion: Daily consumption of fast food is a risk factor for poorer academic performance. Policies and interventions aiming at promoting healthy eating habits among medical students should be incorporated by the educational institutes.