Hábitos alimentares de acadêmicas do primeiro e do último ano de cursos de graduação em Nutrição no estado do Maranhão

Abstract

Objective: To assess the dietary habits of freshman and senior female students in Nutrition at three institutions in the state of Maranhao. Methods: The study included 254 students. Nutritional status was assessed by body mass index, using self-reported weight and height. Dietary intake was assessed by questionnaire “How is your food intake?” and Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) by the Ministry of Health. Analyses were processed using Stata 10.0 software, using the Shapiro Wilk test, Student t test, chi- square and exact Fischer. The adopted significance level was 5%. Results: The group average age was 21 years old, and it was mostly eutrophic (65.8%), with no difference between students of the first and last year (p=0.556). The most skipped meal was breakfast (16.5%), especially among the first academic year (p=0.017). The group was classified as follows: 5.1% need to make their eating habits and lifestyles healthier, 73.6% need attention regarding their food intake and other associated health habits and 21.3% have a healthy lifestyle. The academic graduates proved healthier than freshmen (p=0.020). The daily consumption of fruits, vegetables and dairy products was reported by only 22.4%, 44.1% and 40.2% of them, and those of the previous year showed higher proportions (p value: 0.001, 0.005, and 0.020, respectively). Conclusions: Few academic students showed nutrition showed with healthy eating habits and lifestyle, with the situation even worse among freshmen students