OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to check for symptoms of eating disorders in female nutrition students in relation to their nutritional status, level of physical activity and academic semester. METHODS: The Eating Attitudes Test-26 was used to check for symptoms of eating disorders in nutrition students of a private college in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The following data were collected: weight, height, academic semester, level of physical activity and demographic data. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 186 female students. Most of the interviewees aged between 21 and 25 years (50.0%), were Caucasian (93.5%), single (91.0%) and made less than US$2080 per month (66.0%). The Eating Attitudes Test-26 results showed that 24.7% of these students had symptoms of eating disorders. Around 85.5% of the interviewees had normal weight, 8.5% had some degree of malnutrition and 6.0% were overweight and/or obese. No statistical significance was found when the symptoms of eating disorders were compared with nutritional status (p=0.32), academic semester (p=0.67) and level of physical activity (p=0.12). CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of symptoms of eating disorders in this sample, but they are not statistically significance with nutritional status, level of physical activity and academic semester.
Nutritional status; Students health occupations; Eating disorders; Questionnaires
