"I Dont Do What I Learn": A Study of Diet and Quality of Life Among Medical Students

BackgroundMedical students are exposed to behavioral risk factors that may compromise health and well-being. We examined dietary patterns -with emphasis on ultra-processed food consumption - and their associations with quality of life, sleep, and physical activity in Brazilian medical undergraduates. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 105 students from a large public medical school completed validated assessments of diet quality, quality of life, sleep, and physical activity. Anthropometry and bioimpedance were obtained under standardized procedures. Group differences by diet-quality categories were tested with appropriate parametric or non-parametric methods. The significance threshold was two-sided = 0.05. ResultsParticipants had a mean age of 22.2 {+/-} 3.4 years (52.4% male, 44.8% female, 2.9% other/undeclared). Diet quality classified 31.4% with [&le;]31 points, 37.1% with 31-41, and 31.4% with >41. Healthier diet profiles were associated with higher quality-of-life scores in Psychological (67.9 {+/-} 13.9 vs 59.0 {+/-} 13.4 and 58.8 {+/-} 15.2; p = 0.012), Social relationships (77.0 {+/-} 18.6 vs 61.8 {+/-} 22.5 and 67.2 {+/-} 17.7; p = 0.006), and Environment (72.0 {+/-} 13.0 vs 61.7 {+/-} 15.1 and 62.2 {+/-} 16.5; p = 0.008) domains, and with better sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index 5.6 {+/-} 2.1 vs 7.3 {+/-} 2.9 and 6.6 {+/-} 3.4; p = 0.050). Physical activity increased across diet-quality strata (vigorous activity 3481.2 {+/-} 3123.6 vs 1925.1 {+/-} 2655.9 and 1230.3 {+/-} 2091.3 metabolic-equivalent minutes/week; p = 0.003; total activity 4734.0 {+/-} 3193.9 vs 3005.2 {+/-} 2987.3 and 2184.6 {+/-} 2186.2; p = 0.001). There were no differences across diet groups for depression, anxiety, or stress subscales, nor for bioimpedance indices (all p [&ge;] 0.109). Sex differences appeared only in body composition (greater skeletal muscle and lower percent body fat in males; both p < 0.001), with no sex differences in quality of life, sleep, or physical activity. ConclusionsAmong medical students, dietary patterns - particularly lower consumption of ultra-processed foods - were meaningfully related to better quality of life and sleep, and to higher physical activity. These findings can inform campus-level health promotion and student support strategies.