Diet quality is a term used to assess both the quality and variety of food intake by comparing dietary guidelines. The quality of dietary intake can be used to determine the association between food intake and health status. Studies comparing diet quality among students from different departments are limited.

The aim of this study was to determine the dietary quality of female college students with majors in different departments at Taibah University, Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This study was a cross-sectional study conducted with 658 female participants. The Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) was used to describe dietary quality.

The total DQI-I score of the College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS) students (55.5%) was higher than those of the College of Sciences (CS) (52.3%) and College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) (50.4%) students. The risk of having a poor diet was higher among the CS (odds ratio (OR) = 1.154, 95% confidence interval (CI) (95% CI) = 1.007–1.879) and CAH students (OR = 1.624, CI = 1.012–2.604) than among the CAMS students. Having a low DQI-I score was associated with a high risk of obesity (OR= 2.478, 95% CI = 1.007–3.879) and a high body fat % (OR = 3.920, 95% CI = 1.757–8.749).

This study showed the need to raise awareness among the younger population about the importance of healthy eating, which involves implementing healthy habits to improve one’s quality of life.