The universities represent the final opportunity to receive the health and nutritional education for a large number of students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nutritional knowledge, food habits, and attitudes toward health of first-year students at an agricultural university in Tokyo. We conducted a questionnaire survey and divided respondents into 3 groups based on their knowledge level of dietary self-management : ”knowledgeable” (n=643), “somewhat knowledgeable” (n=548), and “not knowledgeable” (n=1163). Parametric variables were analyzed using Analysis of variance and categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-square test. We found that students who ate breakfast daily, were interested in dietary education (Shokuiku), and followed the 34 listed desirable dietary and health behaviors in our survey were significantly more knowledgeable. However, even in the knowledgeable group, less than 50% of students reported actually practicing the itemized desirable diet and health behaviors. Our findings suggest the need for strategies to not only improve nutritional knowledge, but also to encourage practice of desirable diet and health behaviors in university students.