Dieting habits as a crucial factor for maintaining health in a student population

Abstract

Objective. Dietary habits influence different aspects of health, such as: subjective health assessment, life habits (such as physical activities), functional status, as well as the health care, where inadequate diet represents a significant risk factor for the formation of numerous, various health disorders. It is estimated that around 31% of children in the world under 5 is malnourished, while mortality caused by illness, hunger or malnutrition makes even 50% overall mortality in children. The basic aims of this research are to examine the dieting characteristics of pupils and students and the differences in these two groups' diet compared to their defined demographic and socio-economical features. Methods. A cross-section study has been done on the sample of 480 pupils and students in Nis. The research in the field was performed between 20th November and 2nd December in 2014 (special days for certain groups of subjects). As previously mentioned, a statistical package computing program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows rel. 13.0) was used. Results. The analysis shows that men have breakfast more rarely than women. The results are similar in answers to the question if they never have breakfast. Unlike the previous results, men have lunch more often than women and the answers to the question if they have an afternoon snack are similar. The difference is more apparent when it comes to afternoon snacks, men have lunch more often which is the same for the habit of having dinner or supper. An especially interesting question was the one whether subjects think about their health when they choose what to eat. The most frequent answer was that they consider it sometimes, a little less than a half or 45.2%, every third respondent, 29.0%, consider it often, and only every sixth does it always (16.3%). Conclusion. The most subjects sometimes thought about their health when they choose what to eat.