ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the factors influencing fast-food consumption amongst the International Medical Students of USM-KLE.Hypothesis:Fast food consumption is deleterious to the overall health of a person, and thus we expect low fast food consumption amongstmedical students of USM-KLE. Nevertheless, due to the lack of awareness and poor understanding of the ill effects of fast food consumption, the pattern of fast food consumption is increasing among the medical students of USM-KLE. Materials andMethods:A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted in the month of June 2018 by distributing questionnaires to 326 Malaysian students –from year 1 to year 5 –who are studying in Belgaum, India. The questions touched on the aspects of their profile, driving factors offast food consumption, routine exercise pattern, and their knowledge on the deleterious effects of fast food on their health. Data wascollected for their experiencebothin Malaysia & India, & these werethen analysed using SPSS 16.0 software.Results:In this study, theresults werecoded & translated according to each question. It is observed that there isahigh prevalence of fast food consumption amongst the students; 97% of the students consume fast food. Conclusion:The results of this study showed thatdespite their knowledge on the poor health effects of these foods.the students prefer to consume fast food mostly on the basis of their hectic schedule, the restaurants’ close distance, the good taste of the meals, as well as their fast availability