Unless you happen to be studying the art of making choux pastry, the average student's culinary repertoire probably consists of over-boiled pasta stirred into an out-of-the-jar sauce, jacket potatoes with beans and the phone number for the grimey local takeaway round the corner from halls.
And when it gets close to exam period, it only gets worse; you either eat rubbish non-stop or (more worryingly) forget to eat at all. Neither of which does wonders for your brain.
"I don't know how I got through the long nights," says Amina Salahuddin, who graduated last year from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. "I hardly got the time to cook. I ate loads of chocolates, loads of bread, drank lots of tea, anything fast. I didn't really have time to leave the house much."
Other graduates confess to living off bags of wine gums and jelly babies - one says he "bizarrely got into the habit of chewing industrial quantities of gum" while cramming - and greasy burgers on a daily basis.
Gemma Phillips graduated with a business degree from Kingston University last year. "When we got close to finals, we just ate convenience foods - anything you could put in a microwave or get from a takeaway. We had a kebab shop across the road and would regularly go there - just because it was quick and easy. Then one of my housemates discovered these energy glucose tablets in Tesco, so we all started taking those to keep our energy levels up. But it got to the point that I was eating so unhealthily that I'd get this real sugar-low in the middle of my exams. My head would just feel so heavy."
After her spell of eating badly, Phillips has sworn to stay healthy. "I rarely get takeouts now and I really like to cook in the evening. It keeps your eating habits stable. When you're a student, you have all these good intentions to cook healthy meals together but it never works out."
It doesn't take a genius to know that eating better will keep your energy levels up and make you less tired - but can what you eat really have an impact on your brain's ability?
Yes, says Fiona Cassells, a lecturer in mental health nursing at the University of Cumbria whose recent research says poor nutrition leads to poor academic performance.
"Most people are familiar with the physical consequences of a poor diet, but the mental health implications are largely ignored," she says. "The types of food we eat have a direct effect on the performance of the brain and, in a learning environment, levels of concentration, memory and the overall efficiency of the brain are critical - certain food types are essential to brain development. It is vital university students understand the mental health benefits and risks associated with poor diet."
Last month, a study conducted in Guatemala and reported in the UK revealed that children who are fed a daily high-energy porridge breakfast for their first three years have better exam results, reading scores and problem-solving skills than those that are not. But experts say it is not too late to better your brain with food even when you're older.
"The years between 18 and 22 are so crucial for brain development," says Cassells. "And the brain you are growing now, dependent on what you feed it, will influence your mental health and shape the rest of your life."
So what exactly should students be eating? And are "superfoods" - such as goji berries, spirulina, blueberries, pomegranates and acai berries - really the way forward or just a fashion fad?
"There's good evidence that eating correctly can improve concentration, but we don't have enough evidence to prove superfoods can protect and boost brain power," says Sara Stanner, science programme manager at the British Nutrition Foundation and the Nutrition Society's spokeswoman.
"It's more important to think long term and get into the habit of eating three meals a day. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive to eat healthily - a bowl of pasta with fresh vegetables is still nutritional, so are beans on toast. Simply eating breakfast is really important - if you don't, your concentration levels will dip. Superfoods are packed full of particular nutrients, but so too are other fruit and veg, and there's no real benefit in picking one fruit over another.
"Variety is key to getting all the nutrients you need. If you eat healthily, you will have the energy you need to get through long days."
But if you're holed up revising in a library all day, the temptation to grab a Snickers bar from the vending machine can be too great to deny.
"Too much chocolate is a bad thing - replacing snacks with nuts, fruit, dried fruit and yoghurt is far better," says Stanner. "Or if you don't want to have fruit, have something like a scone which has dried fruit in it, or a bagel instead. Young people are often lacking nutrients, and if you're constantly eating crisps and chocolate, it's not going to be good for you."
Diet tips: A healthy body, a healthy mind
• Get your brain off to a healthy start in the morning. The British Nutrition Foundation's guide to healthy living for students recommends wholegrain cereals (such as muesli or porridge) with low fat milk or yoghurt and a handful of dried fruit; wholegrain toast with peanut butter; baked beans on wholegrain toast (baked beans are a protein) with tomatoes and mushrooms; fruit with yoghurt or a fruit smoothie.
• Keep lunch interesting and healthy - swap bog-standard canteen-bought sandwiches for wholemeal wraps and bagels. Just go easy on the mayo.
• Microwave food might be quick and easy for those nights in revising, but they're typically high in fat content. Stanner says the ideal meal is based around a lean protein (chicken or fish; lentils if you're veggie) bulked out with starchy carbohydrates, such as wholegrain bread, brown rice or potatoes.
• Keep hydrated - if you are dehydrated by as little as 2% (which is before you start to feel thirsty), your concentration will slip. Take a bottle of water into the library or exam hall with you and sip regularly to stay focused.
