[Self-perception of food consumption and observance of the Ten Steps to Healthy Eating among university students in Porto Alegre, Brazil].

The scope of this study is to analyze the relationship between self-perception of eating habits and observance of the Ten Steps to Adequate and Healthy Eating among university students in Porto Alegre/RS. An online questionnaire was applied to students at a private university in Porto Alegre. Personal information, anthropometric data and eating behavior of the participants were collected. Data were analyzed by frequency and proportion, and statistical associations using Pearson's Chi-square and the linear trend test, adopting a significance level of 5%, using version 23.0 of the SPSS statistical program. The sample consisted of 357 students, 61.3% of which were female, between 20 and 29 years of age (56%). A total of 34.2% of the students were overweight and 55.5% did not consider they had healthy eating habits. Low observance was observed in eight of the Ten Steps to Adequate and Healthy Eating A review of healthy eating revealed an inverse relationship with observance of the guideline steps, since only 3 steps were followed by more than 60% of the students who evaluated their own eating habits positively. This result suggests that this population may have a distorted view of their own eating habits and need to be enlightened regarding adequate and healthy eating.