Nutrition knowledge, knowledge of healthy cooking methods, and dietary practices among undergraduate nutrition students at different academic semesters: a cross-sectional study

A persistent gap between nutrition-related knowledge and dietary practices has been described among university students in the health sciences. However, evidence comparing these domains among students enrolled in different academic semesters within undergraduate nutrition programs remains limited. This study aimed to compare nutrition knowledge, knowledge of healthy cooking methods, and selected dietary practices among students enrolled in different academic semesters and to examine their associations with anthropometric indicators. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 169 undergraduate nutrition students enrolled in the first (n = 62), fifth (n = 57), and seventh (n = 50) semesters of a public university in Mexico. Validated questionnaires assessed nutrition knowledge, knowledge of healthy cooking methods, and self-reported dietary practices. Anthropometric indicators included BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentage, and visceral fat. Non-parametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis with Dunn–Bonferroni post hoc), chi-square tests with false discovery rate correction for multiple comparisons, and Spearman correlation coefficients were applied. Nutrition knowledge and knowledge of healthy cooking methods differed across academic semesters, with higher scores observed among students enrolled in later semesters (p < 0.001). The prevalence of inadequate nutrition knowledge decreased from 43.5% in the first semester to 3.5% in the fifth semester and 0% in the seventh semester. In contrast, the composite dietary practice score did not differ significantly between academic semesters (p = 0.262). A moderate positive correlation was observed between nutrition knowledge and healthy cooking knowledge (ρ = 0.61, p < 0.01). No significant associations were found between knowledge, dietary practices, and anthropometric indicators. Students enrolled in later academic semesters exhibited higher levels of nutrition-related knowledge, including knowledge of healthy cooking methods; however, this was not accompanied by differences in composite dietary frequency score, suggesting a persistent knowledge–behavior gap within this sample.