engleski

Differences in dietary habits among medical and non- medical faculties in Novi Sad

Introduction: During the study period, inadequate nutritional habits such as skipping breakfast, inadequate consumption of fruit, vegetables and dairy products and excessive consumption of fast food may develop. Understanding undesirable dietary patterns in adolescents is one of the measures in prevention of many diseases. The aim of this study was to estimate differences in dietary habits among students in medical and nonmedical faculties at Universities in Novi Sad. Materials and methods: The research was conducted in May 2018 and included 514 students aged from 19 to 24 (133 males and 381 females) from 4 faculties (Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Technology) whose study programs contain nutritional subjects. The original anonymous questionnaire was used. Questionnaire was purposely designed for this study and included 26 questions with the offered answers and the possibility of answering some questions. Questions were about gender, age, year, type of study, height and body mass, then questions about general eating habits and life habits. Statistical processing was done in SPSS20. Results: Results showed that 50% of students have 3 meals and only 10% have all 5 meals during the day. Students from Faculty of Technology in the large percentage (12%) constantly eat during the day in comparison with other faculties (4-5%). One half of students have breakfast every day, while a little less than 5% never has breakfast. Regarding food types, only 5% of the participants consumed vegetables and only 6% of them consumed fruit more than once a day with statistical significance between faculties (p<0.01). At the same time, 92% of participants consumed meat a few times a week and 77% of participants consumed fish at least once a week. Daily water consumption higher than 2 L was reported by only one third of the students (faculty differences were statistically significant p <0.05) although 85% of participants reported water as their first choice of drinks. Conclusion: Results indicate presence of differences in dietary habits among students from different faculties. Study programs which contain nutritional subjects should focus to increase accepting proper nutritional habits among their students.

students ; dietary habits ; Novi Sad

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