4.5 DIETARY HABITS

Overall, one in five students were on a special diet, females were more than

twice as likely as males to report being on a special diet (Table 9).  The

greatest gender difference was seen in the weight reduction diet category,

with 15% of females compared to 2% males reporting such a practice.  A

vegetarian or vegan diet was the choice for 2% of the males and 9% of the

females.  Regular consumption of supplements was reported by 35% of

females in comparison to 28% of males.

Table 9: Special dietary habits by gender

Males

Females

Total

%

%

%

Special diets 

12.4

26.6

21.4*

Weight Loss

2.3

14.6

10.1*

Vegetarian

2.5

8.6

6.2*

Low cholesterol

2.1

2.9

2.6

Gluten Free

0.4

0.8

0.6

Diabetic

0.2

0.3

0.3

Food supplements   regular

use

27.8

35.3

32.5*

regular=daily or several times a week    *Significant between gender (p<.01)

The most popular foods to be consumed on a daily basis were bread, meat,

cooked vegetables, with at least 50% of students eating these foods.

Among the more healthy foods, a higher proportion of male students had

bread (85%), meat (71%) and milk (50%) at least daily and more female

students eat fruit (46%) and salads (33%) (Table 10). Among the less healthy

foods, butter (41%), sweets (39%) and fizzy drinks (27%) were the most

popular on a daily basis. A higher proportion of males used the less healthy

foods on a daily basis including butter and hard margarine, fizzy drinks,

cakes/biscuits, crisps and fast foods in comparison to females. 

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