Jenna Zhu
11/12/16
EHE 1100H
Honors Thesis Review
In the senior honors thesis “Analyzing the Effect of Nutrition Education on Snack Food
Vending Choices of College Students” by Nicole Elizabeth Brown, the impact of nutritional value
awareness was investigated among students at The Ohio State University. Students of all ages
attending The Ohio State University were given a survey that asked if they had ever taken a
nutrition course before, and a list of scenarios at a vending machine to demonstrate how
healthy of a choice they would make. There were two groups: an intervention group of
students that were non-nutrition majors in an introductory nutrition class, and a control group
of students that were in an introductory non-nutrition class (Foundations of Marketing
Management 450). These sample groups showed diversity among age, gender, and healthiness
(underweight, healthy, overweight, obese I and II). Among the scenarios listed in the survey,
students were to choose one snack from a vending machine depending on their personal
situation: whether they were hungry and needing to replace a meal, stressed and craving a
snack, needing an energy booster, or hungry and craving a snack. Snacks were color coded
either red, yellow, or green depending on how healthy the snack was (red being the least
healthy).
Among the results, it was shown that both groups normally tended to choose snacks
color-coded green, or in other words the healthier option. However, under scenarios where the
student is stressed and craving a snack and where the student is in need of an energy boost,
results portrayed that students from the treatment group tended to choose more snacks color-
coded red in contrast to students from the control group. From these results, the student
conducting this research study concluded that nutrition courses generally had an impact on the
students and their choices when it comes to health.
If I were doing this research study, there are few things I would do differently. First,
instead of limiting both my control and intervention group to just students, I would also open it
to professors and other adults, as they may have or may have not taken a nutrition course in
their previous years. I would also open the survey online to more students. This way, the
sample size for both groups could be larger, accounting for more data to work with. Also, if I
wanted to extend the research, I would incorporate not just scenarios using foods from the
vending machine, but also scenarios in the dining hall. Oftentimes, students go to the dining
hall under low peer pressure and eat foods when they are not even hungry. By looking into
what choices they make, one could see the impact of a nutrition course on students in the
dining halls as well. Overall, I think this research was conducted in a great manner and there is
little I would change.
Relating to future topics on nutrition, I would be interested in conducting research on
the effects of fitness trackers. I have noticed the steady increase in number of people walking
around campus wearing FitBIts, Apple watches, and other fitness trackers, and I am curious as
to how big of an impact they have had on students as the demand for these devices increases.
As a part of this study or as another separate study, I would also be interested in the effect of
students counting their daily calorie intake. I am curious to see whether people who are more
conscious about their calorie consumption generally tend to be more proactive when it comes
to healthy choices in dining halls or going to the gym to work out, or simply taking the stairs
instead of an available elevator. From all of these surveys, I would compare the results to the
student’s BMI. I would also be interested in conducting another survey to see the impact of
social media on nutrition. I noticed many popular posts of food and recipes on Facebook,
Instagram and Pinterest, and I am curious to see the impact of what kinds of foods that appear
on a user’s feed can affect that person’s food choices for their next meal or snack. I would like
to see if a user following a healthy detox account influences them to choose healthier snacks, or
if a user following a baking and sweets account influences them to crave and choose sugary and
unhealthy options when they snack.