Trendy health food consumption and body mass index in university students

Research on "trendy", marked by ephemeral, superficial, or faddish appeal (Merriam- Webster, n.d.), food and nutrition supplements and their relationship to body mass index (BMI) is sparse. A response to this under studied subject area was the development of a survey to test the relationship between BMI and health perception as well as intake of trendy foods in San Francisco State University (SFSU) students. A total of 195 surveys were collected during the spring 2018 semester. Kendall's tau was used to examine correlations between the foods, attitudes toward intake of these foods, and BMI and chisquare was used to examine other variables o f interest. A positive correlation was identified between increased weekly intake of jackfruit and increased BMI, n (193) = .138,/? = .020. Though few results were significant, these findings are important for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists to understand that there may be food trends that influence health outcomes.