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Published:
Dec 2, 2023DOI:
10.4314/jdan.v13i2.2Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Nutrition knowledge, attitude, body composition, and dietary patterns of female undergraduate students in Owerri Metropolis
Abstract
Background: Nutrition knowledge is necessary for promoting healthy dietary habits which is vital for the maintenance of optimum nutritional status.
Objective: This study aimed at assessing the nutrition knowledge, attitude, body composition and dietary habits of female undergraduate students from selected tertiary institutions in Owerri metropolis.
Materials and methods: The study was a cross sectional survey comprising of 250 female undergraduate students from selected tertiary institutions in Owerri metropolis. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of respondents from five tertiary Institutions in Owerri Metropolis. A well-structured and validated questionnaire was administered to collect information on socio-economic characteristics, nutrition knowledge, nutrition attitude and dietary habits. Height was measured using a stadiometer while weight and body composition were assessed using bioelectrical impedance analyzer (Omron- HBF-511B-E). Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s bivariate correlation using IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0.
Results: Approximately 70.8% of the respondents had good nutrition knowledge while 51.6% had poor nutrition attitude. Most of the respondents (82.4%) had normal body water, 63.6% had high muscle fat and 42.8% were obese due to high body fat. Majority (72.4%) of the respondents eat twice daily, 46.8% skip meals due to lectures and 33.6% consume fruits daily. There were no significant correlations observed between nutrition knowledge and body composition. Body mass index had marked negative correlation with skeletal muscle mass (p=0.00) while BMI had a significant (p=0.0) positive correlation with body fat.
Conclusion: This study shows that majority of the respondents had good nutrition knowledge however, more than half of the respondents still have poor nutrition attitude and the rate of obesity among the respondents was very high.
