ABSTRACT

The study was designed to determine the food habits and nutritional status of undergraduates in two tertiary institutions in Imo State. A total of 400 respondents were randomly selected. A structured questionnaire was used to determine their socio-economic characteristics, nutritional knowledge and food habits. Results on the age values of respondents indicated that most of the respondents were 20-22 years (36.8%), 23-25 years (41.0%) and 26-29 years (18.5%) years old. Most (71.0%) of the respondents lived off campus (71.0%). Results on respondents’ parents’ occupational status revealed that while many of the respondents mothers were civil servants (48.5%), traders (24.5%) and artisans (21.8%), most of the respondents’ fathers were either civil servant (49.8%) or artisans (23%). Results further showed that most of the respondents made between 10,000- 15,000 (44.3), quite a good number (41.1%) of them made below 10,000. Information on the nutritional knowledge of respondents revealed that majority (72.8%) of the respondents had good nutritional knowledge, a few (15.3%) of them had fair nutritional knowledge while about one tenth (10.6%) of the respondents had excellent nutritional knowledge. Most of the respondents skipped either breakfast (37.8%) or lunch (34.0%).  Lack of time to eat/cook was believed to be the reason behind meal skipping by majority (80.3%) of the undergraduates. Half (50.3%) of the respondents spent above 1,000 naira weekly on food while the rest (49.7%) spent below 1,000 on food. Results further revealed that snacking was adopted by the respondents because they preferred it (44.8%) and also in an attempt to make up for missed meals (34.3%). Biscuits (24.5%), cakes (20.0%) and meat-pie (19.3%) were found to be the favorite food of most of the respondents. Most (66.7%) of the respondents had normal (18.5-24.9) BMI status while about a quarter of them (25.3%) were above normal. However only 8% of the respondents were classified to be underweight. Results on the skinfold thickness (triceps and biceps) values revealed that most of the students were normal (60.7% and 64.0%) while a good number of them were either overweight (19.2% and 18.3%) or obese (9.8% vs 8.2%). Similar results was observed using arm circumferences measures as there were more normal (63.0%) than underweight (10.5%) and other categories (26.3%). The results revealed that a significant relationship (P< 0.05) exits between respondents BMI status and monthly income   (X2= 57.2; P= 0.03). Therefore it is necessary that behavior centered nutrition education be impacted on the students to enable them make correct dietary choices.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE i

CERTIFICATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

ABSTRACT x

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of Problem 2

1.2 Objectives 3

1.3 Significance of study 4

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Food habit 5

2.1.1 Food habits of undergraduates 6

2.1.2 Adolescents 6

2.1.3 Young adults 7

2.2 Factors that influence food habits 8

2.2.1 Peer pressure 8

2.2.2 Food preference and taste 9

2.2.3 Nutrition knowledge 9

2.2.4 Weight concern and body image 10

2.2.5 Time constraints 11

2.2.6 Individual preferences 11

2.2.7 Cultural and religious influence 11

2.2.8 Household/family size 12

2.3 Nutritional status 12

2.3.1 Anthropometric measurements 14

2.3.2 Clinical assessment 17

2.3.3 Dietary assessment 18

2.3.4 Biochemical assessment 19

CHAPTER 3

MATERIALS AND METHODS 21

3.1 Study design 21

3.2 Area of study 21

3.3 Population of the study 22

3.4 Sampling and sampling technique 22

3.4.1 Sample size 22

3.4.2 Sampling procedure 22

3.5 Preliminary activities 23

3.5.1 Preliminary visits 23

3.5.2 Training of research assistants 23

3.5.3 Ethical approval 24

3.6 Data collection 24

3.6.1 Questionnaire administration 24

3.6.2 Anthropometric measurements 24

3.6.3 Dietary measurements 25

3.7 Data analysis

3.8 Statistical analysis

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 27

4.1 Socio-economic status of respondents 27

4.2 Nutritional knowledge of respondents 29

4.3 Respondents’ dietary habits 30

4.4 Body Mass Index Status of Respondents 34

4.5 Relationship between respondents’ anthropometric status and some socio-economic variables

35

4.6 Respondents’ Weekly food frequency 37

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 41

5.1 Conclusion 41

5.2 Recommendations 42

REFERENCES

Appendix I