Lifestyle choices have a correlation on health; the innumerable studies on smoking risks, obesity effects, and other comorbidities have plenty to offer on these subjects. With childhood obesity a growing concern, there is a rising interest in healthy school lunches and nutritional reformation for young adults.

While there are innumerable studies in the area of nutrition as well, many of the examinations focus on outcomes; primarily, a subject’s actual diet, either baselined from a point in time or versus another performance variable. This examination focuses on food identification, not consumption, among young adults. Specifically, the study would be taken to investigate whether students with higher academic performance also possess higher nutritional awareness.

Students who are more likely to identify with healthier meal options and more accurately predict the caloric density of foods, on average, have higher academic performance as measured by GPA.

Using the 2017 survey conducted by BoraPajo on Kaggle, the following analyses are performed:

1. Using GPA as the categorical variable, correlation is examined between respondents’ identification with healthier/unhealthier food options (oatmeal vs. donuts for breakfast, frappuccino vs espresso for coffee, orange juice vs soda for beverage, McDonalds french fries vs home fries for potatoes, and vegetable vs starchy for soup) and academic performance. Data is cleaned and a Chi-squared Test is employed to examine any statistically significant variability among these groups.
2. Using GPA as the categorical variable once more, correlation is examined between correct caloric identification of foods (chicken piadina, scone, burrito, and waffle potato sandwich) and academic performance using a Chi-squared Test.
3. Using an independent t-test, correlations are examined between the following:

• GPA and respondents’ self-perception of their diet (healthy, unhealthy, repetitive, unclear),
• GPA and respondents’ body weight self-identification (slim, very fit, just right, slightly overweight, overweight, does not consider weight self-identification), and
• GPA and respondents’ likelihood to check nutritional values frequently (never, on certain products only, very rarely, on most products, on everything).

4. Using a Chi-squared Test, GPA versus the previous self-perception questions as a group is examined.