The prevalence of overweight and obesity in college and health science students is
increasing. This study determined whether eating practices and nutrition knowledge are
associated with body weight in nursing science students. The study also evaluated the
association between socio-demographic factors and body weight status.
A cross-sectional survey of 161 full time undergraduate nursing science students (31.7 %
male and 68.3 % female), aged 18 and above, were chosen randomly from the University
of Fort Hare. Validated questionnaires were used to determine the socio-demographic
factors, eating practices and nutrition knowledge. Eating practices were determined by
means of a 24-hour recall and a short food frequency questionnaire. Standard techniques
involving a calibrated platform electronic scale and stadiometer, as well as a standard
tape measure were used to measure weight, height, waist and hip circumference so as to
calculate body weight status (Body mass index (BMI), Waist circumference (WC), and
Waist hip ratio (WHR)). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data, including,
frequencies and percentage for categorical variables and means and standard deviations
or medians and percentiles for continuous data. The underweight, normal weight and
overweight/obese groups were compared by means of 95 % confidence intervals for
median differences.
This study showed that less than half of the students (46.0 %) were of normal weight
(58.8 % male students compared to 40.0 % female students). The prevalence of
overweight and obesity was more common among female students compared to males
(36.4 % and 21.8 % versus 21.6 % and 9.8 %, respectively). In contrast, 9.8 % male
students were underweight compared to 1.8 % females. Sixty two students had WC
values above the cut off points (⥠88 cm: F; ⥠102 cm: M) while sixty students had
WHR values above the cut off points (⥠0.8: F; ⥠0.9: M).
Important observations of the usual daily food intake showed that less than the daily
recommended number of food portions from the food groups were consumed for milk and milk products (92.6% of students); vegetables (97.5 %) and fruits (42.2 %). More
than the recommended number of portions per day was consumed for meat and meat
alternatives (81 %), sweets and sugar (77.8 %), fats and oils (50 %). The recommended
number of servings per day was only met for bread and cereals (82.7 %). Median daily
energy intake for female students (5543.3 kJ) was significantly lower than that of males
(6333.3 kJ). For all students the median energy and fat intakes were relatively low, while
carbohydrate and protein intakes were higher than the RDA.
Usual meal patterns showed that 59 % of students ate three meals daily and the most
frequently skipped meal was breakfast. Foods most often consumed on a daily basis were
salt/stock/royco (85.8 %), margarine/oils/fats (67.9 %), sugar (58.6 %), bread (55.6 %)
and cereal (34.7%). Foods most often not consumed included low fat/skim milk (76.5 %),
alcohol (73.5 %), cremora (48.2 %), soy mince/legumes, baked beans, dried beans/peas
and lentils (45.7 %), and peanut butter (42.6 %).
A significant higher percentage of underweight (14.3 %) than overweight/obese (1.3 %)
individuals consumed bread and cereals below the recommended daily requirements.
More overweight/obese (72.5 %) than underweight (28.6 %) students ate chips/crisps on
a daily basis. Fat consumption in underweight students was significantly less than that of
overweight/obese students. Significantly more overweight/obese (90 %) than
underweight (57.1 %) students ate sweets and chocolate on a daily basis, and
significantly more underweight (57.1 %) than normal weight (16.2 %) students consumed
low fat/ skim milk on a daily basis.
Of 162 students, 69.3 % were uninformed of the food groups to eat the most and 24.9 %
of which food groups to eat least, according to dietary guidelines. The recommended
daily portions from the food groups were not known by the students: 85.7 % of students
did not know the daily recommended servings for bread, cereal and pasta, 54.7 % did not
know the recommended servings for vegetables and 54.7 % did not know the
recommended serving for meat, poultry, fish dry beans, eggs and nuts. Over 60.2 % did
not know the daily recommended servings for milk and milk products. Over 55.3 % of students knew the recommended servings for fruits, 92.6 % knew foods with high fiber
content, 50.3 % knew that peanut butter has a high fat content, while 96.3 % knew the
best sources of beta carotene.
The median percentage for correct answers obtained in the nutrition knowledge test was
56.3 %. Of 162 students, 34.2 % scored less than 50 % while 65.8 % scored more than
50 % in a nutrition knowledge questionnaire. There was no statistical significant
difference between BMI categories in terms of the score in the nutrition knowledge test.
However, significantly more underweight (63.5 %) than overweight/obese (1.4 %)
students knew the recommended servings for milk, cheese and yoghurt. Significantly
more normal weight students (20.3 %) than overweight/obese (8.8 %) students knew the
daily recommended servings for bread, cereal, rice and pasta. Significantly more
overweight (95.0 %) than underweight (71.1 %) students knew carrot as a good source of
Ã-carotene.
In conclusion, healthy eating practices need to be emphasized in this group while
ensuring an adequate awareness campaign. The findings suggest the need for strategies
designed to improve competence in the area of nutrition, especially with respect to
information relating to guidelines for healthy eating practices and healthy weight
management. Nutritional education for female students, especially related to body
weight management is recommended. Interventions for the prevention and control of
obesity must go much further than simply prompting nutrition knowledge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-01282010-114240 |
| Date | 28 January 2010 |
| Creators | Okeyo, Alice Phelgona |
| Contributors | Prof A Dannhauser |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-01282010-114240/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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