Dietary Habits And Nutritional Quality Amongst University Students In The Republic Of Guinea: An Emerging Public Health Issue

The transition to university is a critical life stage during which young adults profoundly reshape their lifestyle, dietary behaviours and social environment, with longterm implications for metabolic and cardiovascular risk. In low and middleincome countries undergoing rapid nutrition transition, including the Republic of Guinea, university students are increasingly exposed to energydense, nutrientpoor diets, sedentary behaviours, sleep disruption and psychoactive substance use, in a context of economic precarity and limited campus infrastructure. At the same time, national and regional data highlight the coexistence of persistent undernutrition and a rising prevalence of overweight and obesity among schoolaged children and adolescents, signalling the emergence of a double nutritional burden in West Africa. This narrative review synthesises current evidence on lifestyle patterns, dietary habits, nutritional quality and nutritional status among university students worldwide, with a specific focus on the Guinean context. It describes the determinants of unhealthy behaviours (academic stress, urbanisation, food environment, socioeconomic constraints), examines their contribution to early cardiometabolic risk, and discusses available data on physical inactivity, poor sleep quality and psychoactive substance use among youth in Africa. On this basis, the review proposes priority avenues for action in Guinean universities, including the development of structured nutritional surveillance, health promotion and counselling services, improvement of campus catering, and the integration of nutrition and lifestyle education into university curricula. Strengthening research on student health and nutrition in Guinea is essential to guide contextappropriate public policies and prevent the longterm consequences of the ongoing nutrition transition in this vulnerable population. Keywords: university students; dietary habits; nutritional quality; double burden; public health; Guinea.