Factors influencing cake consumption among the students within Makerere University
Abstract
The evolution of cake consumption has been of interest to researchers for a long time who have concluded that it is a main component of the human diet and majority of the people prefer taking cakes on several occasions like wedding parties, birthday parties that leading to its demand on the market. The main objective of this study was to assess the factors that are influencing cake consumption among students at Makerere University and a cross sectional study design was used. The study used primary data that was collected through a questionnaire that was filled by 107 students at school of statistics and planning in Makerere University. The findings showed that majority of the students (72.46%) consumed cakes while 27.54% of the students didn’t consume cake and majority of the students were aged between 21-24 years (56.29%), 22.75% of the students were aged between 17-20 years and 20.96% of the students aged between 25-28 years. The final results indicated that year of study (P = 0.026), prices of cakes (P= 0.029), age of the student (P = 0.014) and availability of cakes (P =0.048) showed a significant relationship with cake consumption (p- values are less than 0.05 level of significance). The findings also indicated that gender of the student (P = 0.759), packaging (P =0.952), place of buying cakes (P = 0.488) and pocket money of the student (P =0.688) had an insignificant relationship with cake consumption at 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that year of study, price of cakes, age of student and availability of cakes were the main factors influencing cake consumption at Makerere University. The study recommended the government to create public awareness campaigns targeting university students to educate them about the importance of healthy eating habits, especially in relation to age and gender. The government should invest in long-term educational programs that focus on promoting a balanced and healthy diet for university students by setting up nearby bakeries to increase availability of cakes. The study further recommends the government to provide subsidies on bakeries to reduce prices of cakes and increase consumption among university students.