ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Palestinian college students have been undergoing a dietary transition from a traditional dietary style to a fast-food dietary style in latest years. As a result, college students are becoming increasingly overweight and obese. Nutritional awareness of college students may serve as a deterrent to the unhealthy eating habits that are strongly linked to a variety of ailments. We aim to determine the prevalence of obesity in a sample of college students from the southern governorates, together with finding out their dietary practices, and the relationship between dietary practices and obesity among them. Methods: An analytical descriptive survey of 200 college students (100 males and 100 females), aged 20 ± 2 years were selected randomly from the University College of Sciences and Technology – Khan Yunis between October 2018 to January 2019. Data related to the eating habits of students were collected using an interview questionnaire. The survey comprised three sections: demographic information, health-related information, and lifestyle patterns. Also, anthropometric indices of the students were measured (weight, height), and the BMI was computed. The statistical analysis of data was outright by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences program (ver. 22). Results: The prevalence of obesity was more common among male students compared to females (10.0% vs. 5.0%). Further, regular breakfast and lunch consumption was reported in 53.0% and 75.5% of students respectively, although most of them (60.5%) have dinner irregularly. The majority of the participants (67.5%) eat two meals every day. Snacking and fried foods consumption was a frequent habit among students, where 34.5 % and 12.0% respectively usually consume it every day. Moreover, the percentage of students who eat vegetables and fruits once or twice weekly was 42.5%, and those who drink Carbonated beverages per week were 78.0%. Moreover, BMI had significant direct correlations with intake of lunch meal regularly (r=0.171, P = 0.015), the frequency of fried food intake (r= 0.127, P = 0.047) and the frequency of Carbonated beverages drinking per week (r=-0.229, P = 0.030). Conclusion: Despite the low incidence of obesity among the participants, the findings suggest that college students should receive nutrition education programs to minimize the propensity of obesity among them and improve their eating behaviors.
تاريخ النشر
02/03/2022
الناشر
Journal of the University College of Science and Technology
د. إياد عبد الرحمن محمود الزعيم | Iyad A. M. Alzaeem | 7630