Dietary habits of medical students

First author: Aurelia Alexandra Tarca

Coordinators: Dr. Raluca Pop,

Asist. Univ. Dr. Remus Sipos

Introduction

Dietary evaluation is an important part of general evaluation, but it is time consuming and subjective.

24hr recall questionnaire is a recognized method for dietary assessment.

Medical students are supposed to have healthy eating habits.

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Objective

To assess and compare the eating habits of the medical students from the first and the fourth year General Medicine from UMPh Tg. Mures.

http://www.cafepress.com 3

Material and method

The type of study - cross-sectional

Target population - medical students

Sample - 91 students divided in two groups from the first (46

subjects) and fourth year (45 subjects) of General Medicine at

UMPh Tg. Mures

Method - 24hr recall questionnaire

Statistical analysis - Microsoft Office Excel, GraphPad InStat

Macronutrient composition and the count of the calories -

Foodtracker (Supertracker.usda.com)

4https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx

Material and method

Variables analysed :

age sex environment study year body mass index waist macronutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber empty calories recommended caloric intake number of meals location of meals physical activity frequency

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Results 1

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Fig. 1 - Sex distribution

28.6%

71.4%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Female Male

Results 2

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Fig. 2 - Meals locationRR=1.3, 95%CI 1.03 - 1.65, p=0.02

4030

6

15

1st year 4th year

Restaurant

Home

Results 3

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Fig. 3 - Physical activity analysis

16 20

10

26 15

4

1/week 2x/week >=3x/week

4th year

1st year

Results 4

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Fig. 4 - Association study year - physical activity

30

19

16

26

1st year 4th year

Inactive

Active

RR 1.54, 95% CI – 1.03-2.3, p=0.03

Results 5

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Fig. 5 - BMI analysis

19.56% 15.55%

69.56% 75.55%

10.86% 8.89%

1st year 4th year

Overweight

Normal

Underweight

BMI classification according World Health Organization (WHO)

Results 6

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Fig. 6 - Empty calories consumption

148

3237

1st year 4th year

Excess

Normal

p=NS

Results 7

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Fig. 7 - Daily intake (calories/day)

1501.7 1489.8

1639.8 1670.9

1st year 4th year

Daily intake

BMR

p=0.03 for girls in 1st year

Results 8

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Fig. 8 - Mean macronutrient repartition

21.83% 17.84%

51.64% 50.95%

33.32% 33.05%

1st year 4th year

Fat

Carbohydrate

Protein

p=NS

Results 9

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Fig. 9 - Balanced diet incidence

93.40%

6.60%

Bad habit

Correct

Discussions

Our results are similar to other studies in Sweden and Greece (1,2)

Medical students have similar diet habits with the general population.

Even small caloric excess can lead to increased weight.

Conclusions

Medical students tend to consume high amounts of empty calories, have an imbalanced diet and do not exercise.

The 24hr recall is a useful tool for evaluating personal diet and allows tailored recommendations.

More emphasis should be put on nutritional education among medical students.

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References

Marja Tengvall and Lars Ellegard. Dietary intake in Swedish medical students. Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition 2007; 51 (2): 79-84.

Michael Chourdakis, Thrasivoulos Tzellos, Georgios Papazisis, Konstantinos Toulis, Dimitrios Kouvelas. Eating habits, health attitudes and obesity indices among medical students in northern Greece. Appetite 55 (2010) 722–725

S. Melmed, K. Polonsky, P. Larsen H. Kronenberg. Williams’s textbook of endocrinology. 12th ed. Saunders Elsevier. 2012

Thank you!

http://www.divineglowinghealth.com

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