Assessment of the actual nutrition of students of Voronezh Medical University

Abstract

AnnotationJustification. Human health consists of many factors, the most important of which is nutrition. And at a young age, during the formation of the body, nutrition comes to the fore among the factors necessary to maintain and strengthen health. The purpose of the study. To identify the dependence of the health of students on the organization of their nutrition in an educational organization, to give a hygienic assessment of the existing risks of the formation of alimentary pathology.Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study performed in the period from 2021 to 2023, conducted on the basis of a medical university. The study included a survey of 1,200 students of 1-3 courses studying in the following specialties: medical science (401 people, among whom 93 are male and 308 are female), pediatrics (410 people, among whom 53 are male and 357 are female) and dentistry (391 people, 100 are male and 291 are female). The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 21 years. This interval was formed in order to record the differences in students' food preferences that arise with age. Anthropometric indicators were taken from all participants of the study, body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Also, the study participants were asked to use the "Diet 5.0" software package to make up their daily diet for subsequent analysis and identification of emerging trends in the nutrition of young people.The results of the study. When analyzing the obtained indicators, some negative aspects in the nutrition of medical university students were identified, possible risks of various pathological conditions were identified, the main trends in the nutrition of students were determined: the content of high-carbohydrate foods in the diet, also extremely low content of some micro- and macroelements in the diet, and so on.