Title:

Prevalence of Meal Skipping among First-Year College Students with and without Food Allergies

Objectives: Current research suggests that food allergy rates are rising among adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the meal skipping prevalence of first-year college students with and without food allergies. Methods: Data were collected between 2012a-2021 through the College Health and Nutrition Assessment Survey, an ongoing, cross-sectional study at a midsize, northeast public university. Participants, ages 18-24, were recruited from an introductory nutrition course and provided written consent to participate. Both food allergy status and meal skipping prevalence were self -reported via online questionnaire (Qualtrics). Meal skipping status was categorized into 4 groups: 0, 1 -3, 4-7, and ≥ 8 meals skipped per week. Differences in meal skipping in relation to food allergy status and dining hall use were evaluated using chi-square analyses. Logistic regression model assessed the differences between meal skipping prevalence in students with food allergies, while adjusting for the covariates gender and dining hall use. Results: In the final sample of first-year students (n=2614), 9.1% (n = 239) reported a food allergy(s). Of the first-year students with food allergy(s), 18.8% reported never skipping a meal during the week, 42.7% reported skipping 1-3 meals/week, 33.1% reported skipping 4-7 meals/week, and 5.4% reported skipping ≥ 8 meals/week. Of the first-year students with food allergy(s), 2.2% reported no dining hall use, 8.3% report eating 1-3 meals at a dining hall, 19.7% eat 7-13 meals at a dining hall, and 69.8% of freshman reported eating 14 or more meals/week at a dining hall. No differences were observed between first-year students with food allergies and meal skipping prevalence compared to those without food allergies (p = .71). Results from logistic regression analysis showed no differences between meal skipping in first-year students with or without food allergy with gender as a confounder (p = .83). Conclusions: Our data do not show differences in meal skipping between students with or without food allergies. However, our data shows a high prevalence of overall meal-skipping in first-year students (87%, n=2106). Future work may consider the impact of food allergies on students throughout the college experience, and the implications of food allergies on eating behaviors and nutrient intake or deficiencies in this population. Funding Sources: New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project 1010738.

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