NUTRITION AND EXERCISE HABITS AMONGST MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA

Authors

  • Ameya Hasamnis Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
  • Sapna Patil Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
  • Zaw Min Tun School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
  • Nurquratul Ainni binti Ruslan School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Malaysia

Keywords:

obesity, medical students, exercise, nutrition

Abstract

Obesity is a major risk factor for various non-communicable diseases. The prevalence of obesity is on the rise, especially in younger populations. Improper eating patterns coupled with lack of physical activity have largely contributed to this problem. Medical students are exposed to social, cultural and study related stress during their course period. These factors influence their patterns of eating and physical activity. A cross sectional study was conducted among medical students of Taylors’ University to study their nutrition habits and exercise pattern. A total of 159 medical students participated in the study. It was found that 69.8% of students had normal BMI, 14.5% of students were underweight and 15.7% students were overweight or obese. It was observed that the prevalence of obesity was more in male students as compared to female students. Out of 159 students, 15.7% of students skipped breakfast. The major food items in the diet was a combination of rice, egg, meat and vegetables. It was also noted that 42.1 % of the students consumed soda drink at least once a week. Majority of our students were involved in intentional physical activity of some kind and they were aware about the importance of both good nutrition and physical activity in maintaining good health.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdel-Hady Abel Fattah El-Gilany, Doaa Mohamed Abdel-Hady, Randa El Damanawy (2016) Consumption and knowledge of fast/junk foods among medical students, Mansoura University, Egypt, TAF Prev Med Bull.15(5): 440-45.
Abdus Salam, Raynuha Mahadevan, Amir Abdul Rahman (2015) Stress among First and Third Year Medical Students at University Kebangsaan Malaysia,Pak J Med Sci.,31(1): 169–73.
Likus W, Milka D, Bajor G, Jachacz-Łopata M.,et al. (2013) Dietary habits and physical activity in students from the Medical University of Silesia in Poland, Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig.64(4):317-24.
N.H Abdull Hakim, N.D.Muniandy, Ajau Danish. (2012) Nutritional status and eating practices among university students in selected universities in Selangor, Malaysia, Asian Journal of clinical Nutrition, 4(3):77-87.
Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Stephanie T. Broyles, Catherine M. Champagne, et.al. (2016) Relationship between Soft Drink Consumption and Obesity in 9–11 Years Old Children in a Multi-National Study, Nutrients.8(12): 770.
Riyaz Shaik Shaik, Sultan Rizwan Ahmad, Chandrasekhar Addepalli (2016) A study to assess the obesity and its determinants among school going adolescents in Hyderabad, National Journal of Community Medicine, 7(10):829-833.
Wiskar K.(2012) Physician health: A review of lifestyle behaviors and preventive health care among physicians, British Columbia Medical Journal, (54)8:419- 23.
WHO, NCD Surveillance strategy, Date of access: 21/04/2017. http://www.who.int/ncd_surveillance/strategy/en/
Yoko Watanabe,Isao Saito,Ikuyo Henmi, et al. (2014) Skipping Breakfast is Correlated with Obesity, J Rural Med.,9(2): 51–58.

Downloads

Published

2017-12-16

How to Cite

Hasamnis, A., Patil, S., Tun, Z. M., & binti Ruslan, N. A. (2017). NUTRITION AND EXERCISE HABITS AMONGST MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA. Proceedings of the International Conference on Public Health, 3(2), 285–292. Retrieved from http://tiikmpublishing.com/proceedings/index.php/icoph/article/view/129

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2017): Proceeding of the 3rd International Conference on Public Health

Section

Articles

License

The Conference Proceedings of International Conference on Public Health is entirely Open Access, which means that all published content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this Proceedings journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Authors who publish with Conference Proceedings agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the Proceedings of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this conference proceedings.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the proceeding's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this conference proceedings.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

Licensing

Creative Commons License
Published articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.