ABSTRACTÇitozi R, Bozo D, Pano G. An assessment of the perception of physical activity, eating habits, self-efficacy and the knowledge about healthy food in Albanian adolescents. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol.8, No. Proc2, pp. S192-S203, 2013. Objective: The present study evaluates eating habits and behaviors, and nutritional and food safety knowledge of a group of Albanian adolescents. Design: A dietary questionnaire previously constructed and tested was self-administered during school time. Each section was evaluated using a separate score. Setting: The study was carried out as a part of a nutritional surveillance project in the capital of Albania, Tirana. Subjects: Three hundred and forty (340) adolescent subjects (180 males, 160 females), aged 15.2 ± 0.5 years, attending the 8-9 years of secondary schools participated in the study. Measures: We evaluated eating habits, physical activity, meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food, self-efficacy, barriers affecting healthy food choices, nutritional and food safety, weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: Only 33.1% of the samples have satisfactory eating habits; 16.8% have a very active lifestyle; only 7.9% have quite good nutritional knowledge. Conclusions: The results point out unhealthy behaviors influencing adolescents' eating habits and suggest which of these must be considered in order to develop tailored nutrition interventions, improving adolescents' consciousness aimed at adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Bozo D, Pano G, Çitozi R. Assessment of physical activity level in office employees groups in Albania. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol.8, No. Proc2, pp. S152-S164, 2013. Insufficient PA is very common in office employees and due to this they are at higher risk for metabolic, cardiovascular and many more other health related risk factor diseases. There is a lack of data regarding the PA level of office employees groups in Albania. Thus the aim of this paper was to identify the PA level in typical representative groups of this category. A total of 164 randomly selected office employees, out of which 97 (52 females and 45 males) from one mobile company and 67 (37 females and 30 males) from a bank, participated in this study. An Albanian modified and adapted version of the an International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess some indicators dealing with all kinds of PA jobs, everyday life and leisure and time expenditure on PAs of different intensity. The weekly activity level was measured through time, frequency and intensity, expressed in MET*minute/week. The subjects were classified in 3 main PA categories: HIGH (1500-3000 MET*min), MODERATE (600-1300 MET*min) and LOW (<600 MET*min). The results show that both groups declared an average PA Level classified under the LOW category. The values of the mobile company group was around 950 MET*min with a difference between the genders of 280 MET*min (1070 in males and 790 in females); while the bank group revealed lower values, i.e. 890 MET*min as average and a difference of 220 MET*min between the two genders (980 in males against 760 of females). The differences between the two groups under investigation can be explained through various factors such as the general PA gender differences, type of sedentary work, type of different work position/role and working spaces. These results may be also a consequence of improper individual activity habits, low information and awareness of health benefits of PA and lack of proper promotion for a healthy and active lifestyle.

Bozo D, Lleshi E. Comparison of Albanian female volleyball player with anthropometric, performance and haematological parameters. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 7, No. Proc1, pp. S41-S50, 2012. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare, on a set of basic anthropometric characteristics, specific volleyball performance indicators and a number of haematological parameters, between elite and nonelite female volleyball players in Albania. A total of 39 subjects were assesses and analyzed for three sets of indicators: 5 anthropometric characteristics (BH, BW, BMI, %BF, and %LBM), 3 performance tests (Jump with one hand, Jump with two hands, Height of the Arm) and 11 haematological markers (WBC, Lymph, Mid, Gran, Hgb, RBC, Hct, MCV, MCH, MCHC, ERC). The obtained results show that physical parameters such as body height, height of the arm, body weight, %BF display generally better values in elite teams but special abilities could be found and appreciated also in a local team, although with less better starting anthropometric and physical characteristics. The physical parameters are collinearly correlated to jump performance tests in both teams but with better values in the local team, different from the expectations. Haematological profiling does not show evident differences between the team groups; however these markers signal for eventual health or performance related alterations especially those related to anemia, which is a predictable and expectable health problem for this gender and age group. The above parameters, alone and in combination with each other, would allow coaches and athletes to identify and assess the physical and performance characteristics specific to the age groups for purposes of professional evaluation, selection, monitoring and continuous development at both individual and team level.

Çitozi, R. & Bozo, Dh. (2014). Habits in healthy nutrition, obesity, alcohol, smoking, among students of the faculty of physical activity and recreation. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 9(Proc1), pp.S291-S299. The deep economic and social transformation that began in Albania in the early 1990s has brought about remarkable changes to the structure of its economy and the living standards of its people. As a consequence, the dietary habits of young adults have been affected; thus, overweight and obesity are increasingly being observed among the young. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity on a sample of students from the Sports University of Tirana and to examine their eating habits. A cross-sectional survey of 80 students (57.5% male and 42.5% female), aged 18.46 years, were chosen randomly from the Sports University of Tirana (SUT) during October 2013. Students were asked to fill out a self-reported questionnaire that included questions on their eating, drinking and smoking habits. Also, their weight, height, and body mass index were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was used to assess students' weight status. This study showed that the majority of the students (78.88%) were of normal weight (73.7% male students compared to 82.6% female students). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was not common among male students compared to females (23.6% and 10.3% vs. 2.2% and 1.2%, respectively). In contrast, 5.9% female students were underweight as compared to 0.5% males. Eating habits of the students showed that the majority (70%) reported taking meals regularly. Healthier eating habits of female compared to male students in terms of daily breakfast intake are the same. 38.23% of female students reported eating breakfast daily compared to 45.65% of male students. Intake of colored vegetables and fruits was common among students. A total of 32.5% reported daily intake of colored vegetables with a small gender differences (32.35% females vs. 32.6% males). Alcohol intake to male students in terms of 2or 3 times per week was 2.17% and rarely 56.52%, while to females students was 2.94% and rarely 35.29%. Males at least 1 packet is 23.91% and rarely 15.21%, females at least 1 packet is 11.76% and rarely 5.88%. 70% of our students are never smoker. In spite of the overall low prevalence of overweight and obesity in the studied sample, results indicate that university of sport students would possibly benefit from a nutrition and health promotion program to reduce the tendency of overweight and obesity, especially among male students, and to improve students' eating habits.