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Effect of Digital Nutrition Applications on Healthy Food-Selection Practices among University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Healthy food selection is an important public health concern among university students in Nigeria because dietary choices during young adulthood may influence nutritional status and the development of lifestyle-related health problems later in life. University students may frequently consume processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, energy-dense meals, and fast foods because of academic demands, limited finances, convenience, peer influence, food availability, and inadequate nutrition knowledge. Digital nutrition applications have emerged as tools that can provide nutrition information, calorie and nutrient tracking, meal planning, food-quality assessment, dietary recommendations, and personalized feedback. However, students may have limited knowledge of how to identify reliable nutrition applications or appropriately interpret the information provided by such platforms. Digital nutrition applications may therefore provide an accessible approach to supporting healthier food-selection decisions among university students. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of digital nutrition applications on healthy food-selection practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model, Health Belief Model, and Social Cognitive Theory. The Technology Acceptance Model explains how perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance may influence students' adoption and continued use of digital nutrition applications. The Health Belief Model explains how perceptions of susceptibility to nutrition-related health problems, perceived severity, perceived benefits of healthy eating, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence food-selection practices. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes self-monitoring, self-efficacy, goal-setting, observational learning, feedback, reinforcement, and environmental influences in developing and maintaining healthy dietary behaviours. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how digital nutrition applications may influence healthy food-selection practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate and postgraduate students aged 18 years and above enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible participants. Digital nutrition application use will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of application use, duration of use, type of nutrition application, access to nutrition information, food-label interpretation features, nutrient tracking, calorie information, meal-planning functions, personalized dietary recommendations, healthy-food suggestions, goal-setting features, reminders, progress monitoring, and feedback. Healthy food-selection practices will be assessed using indicators such as selection of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean protein sources, healthier fats, adequate water intake, reduced consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, reduced intake of highly processed foods, attention to portion sizes, comparison of nutritional information before food purchase, interpretation of food labels, consideration of nutrient content, and selection of balanced meals. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized dietary and food-selection assessment tools, digital nutrition application usage records where accessible and appropriately consented to, food-selection frequency questionnaires, and relevant university health-programme records. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, dietary patterns, sources of nutrition information, digital nutrition application use, and healthy food-selection practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of digital nutrition applications on healthy food-selection practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, healthy food-selection practice scores before and after introduction or structured use of a digital nutrition application may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that digital nutrition applications have a significant positive effect on healthy food-selection practices among university students in Nigeria. Students who regularly use appropriate digital nutrition applications are expected to demonstrate greater awareness of nutritional information and healthier food-selection practices than students without comparable access. Digital applications may help students identify nutrient-rich foods, compare food products, interpret nutrition information, monitor dietary intake, plan meals, and establish realistic nutrition goals. Personalized feedback, reminders, and progress monitoring may strengthen self-monitoring and encourage students to make healthier food choices. Digital nutrition applications may also improve students' ability to recognize foods that are high in added sugars, unhealthy fats, sodium, or excessive calories. However, limited financial resources, food availability within and around university campuses, unreliable nutrition information, limited digital nutrition literacy, peer influence, cultural food preferences, and inconsistent application use may reduce the effectiveness of digital nutrition applications. The study therefore expects accessible, user-friendly, evidence-based, and culturally appropriate digital nutrition applications, supported by nutrition education and a healthy food environment, to contribute significantly to improved healthy food-selection practices among university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on digital nutrition, nutrition applications, healthy food selection, nutrition education, digital health, dietary behaviour, university student health, nutrition literacy, health promotion, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, universities, university health centres, nutritionists, dietitians, healthcare professionals, digital-health developers, public health practitioners, student organizations, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving dietary practices among university students. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating digital nutrition applications into university health-promotion programmes, improving nutrition literacy, encouraging healthier food environments on university campuses, strengthening access to reliable nutrition information, promoting healthy meal planning and food-label interpretation, and developing culturally appropriate digital nutrition interventions for improving food-selection practices among university students across Nigeria.

Keywords: Digital nutrition applications, healthy food-selection practices, university students, digital nutrition, nutrition education, nutrition literacy, dietary behaviour, healthy eating, mobile health, Nigeria, public health.