The Prevalence of Fast-food Consumption among University Students in the Northern Area of Malaysia

Abstract

Fast food has become popular on a global scale. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of fast-food consumption among university students. A total of 364 students from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perlis branch were recruited to participate in this study. Data collection was conducted with a modified version of the standard Nelson’s questionnaire. In this study, the prevalence described by percentage shows that 32.7% of participants consume fast food 2-3 times per month. As for the type of food consumption, most participants preferred bakeries or doughnuts (64.6%), and most of them are female. The second rank was pizza/restaurant fast food type, Asian fast food, ice cream and burger shops. The last rank was the sandwich shop type of fast food. These prevalence results provided a descriptive analysis of the frequency of fast food consumption, specifically in this geographic area. It also provided statistics about the type of fast food being consumed by the participants. A comprehensive demographic background and fast food consumption behavior should be focus of the next study.