Eating Behavior during First-Year College Students, including Eating Disorders—RUVIC-RUNEAT-TCA Project. Protocol of an Observational Multicentric Study

Abstract

(1) Introduction: Changes in eating behavior and eating disorders are especially common in young people, especially teenage and college women. The first year of college is a critical period, as students acquire freedoms that can lead to poor eating habits. During this first year, students usually gain weight. The aims of this project are to analyze the risk of developing eating disorders, the composition and dietary intake and the changes in the body composition of two groups of college students (independent from the family nucleus or still living within the family) in the first year of college. (2) Material and Methods: Multicentric prospective observational study protocol in which first-year students at the Universidad Europea del Atlántico and Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya voluntarily took part in the study. The students will be divided into two groups, independent and those residing in the family home, and the evolution of both groups will be compared at the beginning and at the end of the school year by performing anthropometric measurements, tests on lifestyle and eating habits (Test of Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, MEDAS-14; Emotional Eater Questionnaire, EEQ), validated questionnaires on eating disorders (Eating Attitude Test, EAT26; Teen Figure Drawing Scales; SCOFF, Eating Behavior Test; Bulimia Investigatory Test Edinburgh, BITE) and their intake will be evaluated through 72 h dietary records. (3) Discussion: Determining the risk of suffering eating disorders of alimentary behavior, knowing eating consumption, perception of the corporal image and body composition through the first year of college will be decisive in establishing alimentary education strategies to prevent possible eating disorders in young students.