Introduction:

Unhealthy eating habits of university students constitutes an important concern for future medical and nutritional care.

Objective:

To determine the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and the sodium/(potassium+calcium) indicator in Chilean university students.

Materials and methods:

An analytical cross-sectional research was carried out with a non-probabilistic sample of 420 students, who answered a survey covering sociodemographic and anthropometric issues. The HEI and sodium/(potassium+calcium) indicator were determined using the consumption frequency and 24-hour reminder questionnaire. A descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was applied through the SPSS (v22.0) program.

Results:

The weight, height and the body mass index (BMI) of the participants showed statistically significant differences according to their gender (p<0.05). A similar pattern was found in the average intake of calories, lipids, carbohydrates, fiber, calcium and sodium (p<0.05). Intake of fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products was higher in women (p<0.01). The majority of participating students had an unhealthy diet, with the situation being more severe in men (p<0.05). Only 6% of men and 17% of women had a cardio-protective diet.

Conclusions:

Students follow diets with a deficient intake of cardio-protective micronutrients, which increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

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