ABSTRACT

This study assessed the prevalence of junk food consumption and obesity among undergraduates of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture. The study assessed the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents, their feeding pattern, the prevalence of their junk food consumption, and their nutritional status. The study adopted the use of a semi-structured questionnaire which was validated by lecturers in the department. The data obtained were coded and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and represented using percentages, frequencies and tables. The results from this study revealed that the majority (61.8%) of the respondents were between the age of 21-24 years of age, and about 10.4% were between the age of 17-20 years, and 26.1% were aged 25-28 years. Only 1.7% of the respondents were 29 years and above. Additionally, the result indicated that the female respondents were dominant in the study (57.6%) and the male respondents were about 42.4%. Furthermore, the result revealed that respondents who were in 300 level were dominant (29.8%), followed closely by those in 100 level (27.4%). However, 18.5% of the respondents were in 200 level, 6.5% were in 400 level and 17.7% were in the 500 level. The result revealed that the respondents who earn between ₦11,000 – 15,000 were predominant (34.3%), followed closely by respondents who earn between ₦6,000-10,000 (19.4%). Also, about 15.7% earn between ₦16,000-20,000 and about 12.5% earn as ₦1,000-5,000 as monthly allowance. The results depict that the majority of the respondents skip meals (69.8%), and about 30.2% of them do not skip meals. The study further revealed that about 10.1% of them skip dinner, about 23.4% skip lunch and more than half (66.5%) of the respondents skip breakfast. The result revealed that 44.4% of the respondents consume starfruit 1-2 times daily, and about 35.9% of the respondents also consume apple 1.2 times daily. However, about 15.3% of the respondents consume pear 1-3 times weekly and 32.2% consume apple 1-3 times daily. Furthermore, the result indicates that 21% of the respondents were underweight and about 42.3% of the respondents were of normal weight. The results also indicate that the prevalence of obesity among the respondents is 20.2% and about 16.55 of the respondents were overweight. This result implies that the majority of the respondents included in this study were of good nutritional status regardless of the high consumption of junk foods among the respondents. Furthermore, the study revealed that about 44.4% of the respondents had a normal waist-to-hip ratio, 37.1% of the respondents had a high waist-to-hip ratio and only 18.5% of the respondents had a low waist-to-hip ratio. It is recommended that nutrition awareness should be provided to undergraduate students to promote a healthy lifestyle.