No abstract

Adequate nutrition is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals, including bank staff. The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness of food nutritive value and eating practices among bank workers in Lagos State, Nigeria.The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. A purposive sample of 250 bank workers took part in the study. Means and Student t tests were employed for data analysis.Results showed that bank workers were aware of the nutritive value of foods, and that eating practices commonly adopted included skipping breakfast, eating breakfast at work, buying food at work from the bank canteen, eating in between meals, buying snacks as lunch, and consuming soft drinks daily, among others. There were no significant differences between male and female bank workers in mean responses on food nutritive value or in eating practices adopted.Good eating habits will help bank workers not only to improve their nutritional well-being, but also to prevent nutrition-related diseases. The implications for nutritional counseling and education are discussed in the context of these findings.

Childhood bullying leads to life-long scars and hinders adult development. Schoolchildren involved in bullying are at risk of developing behavioural difficulties, physical health problems and suicidal ideation. This research aimed to evaluate the bullying experience of pupils in Nigerian primary schools. The study is a cross-sectional analytic survey conducted from June to November 2019. A total of 1080 pupils in participated in the study. A self-report questionnaire containing 3 questions was used for collecting data. Analysis of the collected data was done using percentage and Chi-Squared at 0.05 probability level. Results indicate that 51.4% of the male pupils and 50.8% of females reported being victims of bullying. 51.8% of the males and 49.5% of females were found to be perpetrators of bullying. 39.6% of the males and 42.9% of the females were bystanders of bullying. 35.1% of the males and 34.1% of females have experienced any 2 of the categories while 11.2% of the males and 12.4% of the females have experienced all the categories of bullying. Results show a non-significant difference between male and female pupils on bullying victimization (χ 2 = .036, P = .849), bullying perpetration (χ 2 = .589, P = .443), and bullying bystander problem (χ 2 = 1.194, P = .275). In conclusion, school bullying is an increasing problem among Nigerian schoolchildren. Initiatives must, therefore, be taken by the Nigerian government to further prevent and counter bullying problem in Nigerian primary schools. Interventions aimed at helping schools to develop effective policies to reduce bullying behaviour among pupils should be initiated.

This study investigated the eating habits of pupils in Nigerian primary schools based on the respective education levels of their parents. Data were obtained using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Participants included a total of 144 pupils who were purposively selected from 6 primary schools. Based on responses, a cross-sectional analytic study design was implemented to investigate how parental education levels (PELs) influenced the eating habits of their children. Data assessment was performed using a one-way between-group analysis of variance at the .05 probability level. PELs significantly affected the eating habits of participants, respectively. Specifically, low PEL was associated with more satiety responsiveness to food ( F [2, 141] = 14.251, P < .001), higher responsiveness to food ( F [2, 141] = 36.943, P = <.001) greater food enjoyment ( F [2, 141] = 93.322, P < .001), greater drinking desires ( F [2, 141] = 23.677, P < .001), and the tendency for emotional over-eating ( F [2, 141] = 13.428, P < .001), while high PEL was associated with slower eating ( F [2, 141] = 11.665, P < .001), fussier responses to food ( F [2, 141] = 14.865, P < .001), and a higher tendency for emotional under-eating ( F [2, 141] = 5.137, P < .01). This study examined PELs in relation to the respective eating habits of their children, who were attending Nigerian primary schools. Data showed that children with parents who had high, middle, and low education levels tended to exhibit progressively worse eating habits, in descending order.

Background and objectives: A lack of information on the composition and nutritional impacts of many traditional foods is a major challenge that limits their utilization. This study aimed to determine the nutrient composition and glycaemic indices (GIs) of standardized Bambara nut, corn and yam-based traditional dishes consumed in South-eastern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Recipes of the dishes were documented from focus group discussions conducted in eight randomly selected communities in the Nsukka LGA, which were further standardized. Nutrient compositions of the prepared dishes were determined using the standard procedure. A serving portion of each dish containing 50 g of available carbohydrates was served to twelve healthy adult subjects. Glucose was used as the reference food. The postprandial blood glucose response of the test and the reference meals were measured over two hours at 30 min intervals. The blood glucose curves were plotted and the area under each curve and the corresponding glycaemic index value for each dish were determined. Data were analysed using Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) software. Analysis of variance was used to compare the means, which were considered significantly different when p#0.05. Result: The three traditional dishes were ʻokpaʼ (Bambara nut pudding), ʻigbangwuʼ (corn pudding) and ʻayaraya jiʼ (coarsely mashed yam with pigeon pea) were included in the study. The dishes had appreciable proximate, vitamin and mineral compositions, although the protein content of the corn and yam-based dishes were low, ranging from 3.4-3.8 g. The vitamin B 2 and zinc contents of the dishes were also low. Zinc levels ranged from 0.1-0.4 mg, while the three dishes had equal vitamin B 2 contents (0.1 mg). The GIs of the dishes were 51, 54 and 56 for ʻigbangwuʼ, ʻokpaʼ and ʻayaraya jiʼ, respectively. Conclusion: The dishes had low to medium GI values and thus can be recommended for diabetics, although precautions are needed for ʻokpaʼ and ʻayaraya jiʼ.