THE ASSESSMENT OF FOOD INTAKE AND CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF UNDERGRADUATES OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to assess the food intake and consumption pattern of undergraduates of University of Lagos. Akoka, Yaba Lagos. Two hundred respondents were selected randomly in eight faculties, 25 students was selected randomly from each department in all faculties. Data was collected using a well-structured questionnaire which contains demographic characteristics, food frequency and anthropometric data such as height, weight and body mass index. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis such as frequency count and percentage and the BMI was calculated and compare with global database on body mass index(WHO 2006)achieved from the original on April 18th, 2009. 1% of the correspondents are underweight, 90% are within the normal weight, 8.5% overweight, and 0.5% are obesed. Base on the findings on their food habits revealed that majority of the correspondents eat three times a day, and also eatin between meals 69% include fruits in their daily diet, 7% eat vitamin A rich foods every day,33% consume animal protein once in a day, and 46% occasionally. Many of the students eat twice daily due to the overload syllabus.The results of the study shows that majority of the students of University of Lagos are within the normal Body Mass Index (BMI) though there is an incidence of underweight which is 1% and overweight of 0.5%.The managements of the University of Lagos should ensure that they provide amenities especially light and water to the students in order to avoid buying food from the vendors at all time.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
Nutrition is the science of food, nutrients and other substances, their action,
interaction and balance in relation to health and disease and the processes by which the organism ingests, digests, absorbs transports, utilizes and excretes food substances.
The development of nutrition made food to be recognized as the fundamentalsource of nutrients. Food and nutrition are basic human rights because they are necessary for human development.
Malnutrition is the major contribution to illness and diseases in the world. This
includes risk factors related to under nutrition, excess consumption of certain diet components (carbohydrates, fat, etc) and low consumption of other food items like fruits and vegetables.
Food according to (Merriam Webster) can be define as any material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy; also : such material together with supplementary substances (as minerals, vitamins, and condiments.
Food intake is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. … For humans, eating is an activity of daily living. (Anderson, 2002
Olusanya(2003) described food intake as the substances or the quantities thereof taken in and utilized by the body.
