Nutritional status, knowledge and food habits of medical students: A case study in a Nigerian tertiary institution

Abstract

Objective: A cross sectional study was carried out on a randomly selected sample of 340 medical students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Methods: Anthropometric measurements were taken; nutritional knowledge as well as the food habits were assessed using a well validated semistructured self-reported questionnaire.

Results: The results showed that 75.0% had normal nutritional status, 10.0% were underweight and the prevalence of obesity was 1.2%. Significant association was noted between the BMI categories and nutritional knowledge (p<0.05). The majority of the students had normal nutritional status and average nutritional scores .The food habit involving regular meal skipping was reported.

Conclusion: Medical students should be encouraged to put into practice their knowledge on nutrition.

Keywords: Nutrition, food, habits, knowledge