A Survey to Determine the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of College Students in Regard to Soy Protein and Coronary Heart Disease

The purpose of this research was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of college students toward soy protein and coronary heart disease. A sixteen-question survey was developed to collect data from 211 randomly chosen undergraduate students. Frequencies were tabulated for each question, and relationships were analyzed using the chi square statistic.

It was found that only one-fourth or 25.3% of the students answered 4 or 5 out of 5 knowledge questions correctly. Approximately 40% of the students were aware that eating soy protein may help lower one's cholesterol, and 53.1% were familiar with the term soy protein. Eighty-two percent, 66.8%, and 46.4% of the students, and significantly more females, were concerned with the nutritional content, fat content, and cholesterol content of their food respectively, and 74.4% would change an eating habit if it would benefit their health. Of the 26.5% who had never eaten any soy product, significant differences were found between sexes as to why he/she had never eaten a soy product. The analyzed data showed that race was also a factor as Asian students were significantly more likely to be aware of soy's benefit of reducing cholesterol, to have tried any soy product, and to have chosen eating a regular diet enriched with soy protein if faced with hypercholesterolemia. The family unit, schools, newspapers, and doctors' offices were found to be the primary sources of the student's nutritional information. Also, a student with more knowledge was more likely to be concerned with the fat content of food and was more likely to choose soy products. Results of the survey helped to improve the understanding of factors that affect soy food choices and helped to establish a need for soy nutrition education and soy food promotion among college students in preventing the development of coronary heart disease.