Analysis of the Propensity to Fruit Consumption among Young People through the Cumulative Proportional Odds Model

After in-depth studies, the World Health Organization (WHO), asserts and suggests that in order to improve human health and well-being it is necessary to eat 400 grams of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, as well as to consume potatoes and other starchy tubers such as manioc. In Europe, recommendations vary from country to country. Generally, these suggestions are in line with those of the WHO. However, some countries recommend a greater amount: For example, Denmark suggests more than 600 grams each day. The main goal of the present work is to analyse the fruit-consumption behaviour among young people, particularly university students and to identify the target of young people who frequently consume fruit. The present survey, therefore, has the aim of establishing a scientific reference framework regarding the propensity to “fruit” consumption in the diet of the students attending the University of Messina. In order to identify the existence of possible variables that may influence the frequency of fruit consumption, it was deemed appropriate to estimate an adequate regression model. Since the response variable was one of ordinal type on 4 levels (0 = never; 1 = once or twice a week; 2 = 3-5 times a week; 3 = each day) the Cumulative Proportional Odds Model, an extension of the general linear model to ordinal categorical data, was used.