25th Annual Student Research Conference
Whats a Serving? College students knowledge of common serving sizes
Amanda E. Dunn* and Emily R. Mesecher
Prof. Liz Jorn and Dr. Jerry Mayhew, Faculty Mentors
The purpose of this study was to investigate the serving size knowledge of college students. Fifty students (M=21, F=29) completed a short demographic survey and were then asked to estimate the serving size of seven common food items. The serving size of each item was then measured with a balance and compared to the standard USDA serving size. Using a one sample t-test to look at the group as a whole, the group significantly deviated (p<0.001) from the USDA serving size for spaghetti noodles, water, salad, mashed potatoes and peanut butter. There was a trend towards significance between actual and perceived values for cereal (t=1.95, p=0.056) and peanut butter (t=1.86, p=0.068). Males tended to overestimate cereal servings and females underestimate, both genders overestimated peanut butter serving size. Future research could increase the visual appeal of food and also focus on knowledge of younger children/adolescents where trends show increasing obesity levels.
Keywords: Nutrition, Serving Size, Portion Size, Food, USDA, Obesity
Topic(s):Exercise Science
Health Science
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 500-1
Location: Georgian Room - SUB
Time: 3:30