Title:

Do young adults who skip meals have higher rates of dyslipidemia?

Objectives: To explore differences in fasting lipid values among college students who skip meals vs. those who do not. Methods: Data were collected between 2005-21 from the College Health and Nutrition Assessment Survey, an ongoing cross-sectional study conducted at a public northeastern university. All participants were recruited from a general education, introductory nutrition course with lecture and lab components. Fasting biochemical measures included low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG). All values were recoded as meeting or not meeting recommended values. Frequency of meal skipping was self-reported in an online survey (Qualtrics) and recoded into three groups: 0, 1-3, 4+ meals skipped/week. Differences between meal skipping groups were analyzed using chi-square and ANCOVA (p<0.05). BMI, saturated fat, alcohol, and birth control (women only) served as covariates. Results: Of the final sample (8907), 23% reported not skipping any meals/week, 43% reported skipping 1-3 meals/week, 31% reported skipping 4+ meals/week; 13% had high TC (≥ 200 mg/dL), 7 % had high LDL (≥130 mg/dL), 13% had high TG (≥150 mg/dL), and 26% had low HDL (≤ 40 for men and ≤ 50 for women). Women had a higher prevalence of skipping meals compared to men (75% vs 69%). Men who skipped ≥4+ meals/week showed a higher prevalence of dyslipidemia vs 0 meals/week; TG (13.3% vs 6.8%, p <0.001), LDL (11.7% vs 7.9%, p= 0.07), TC (11.9% vs 6.8%, p <0.001). Among men, those who skipped ≥4+ meals/week had lower HDL and higher TG compared to those who did not skip meals (46.5±.5 vs. 48.4±.5, p<.001 and 101.5±1.9 vs. 90.8±2.1, p<.001, respectively). Among women, there were no observed differences in mean lipid levels between meal skipping groups (all p>0.05). Conclusions: College men who skip 4+ meals were more likely to have dyslipidemia compared to men who did not skip meals; however, this relationship was not seen in the women. Future research related to eating patterns and disease risk in young adults may help to reduce future disease in older adults. Funding Sources: New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project 1010738.

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