Consumption of fruits and vegetables among college students living in dormitory in Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences

Obesity is rising rapidly in Iran. Nutrition is an important issue of obesity; Fruits and vegetables are among the best food sources of antioxidant vitamins, soluble fibers, phytochemicals, and other nutrient constituents. Further, some of these foods have been shown to be protective related to reduction of chronic disease risk. In this study, consumption of fruits and vegetables and body mass index [BMI] among College Students Living in dormitory at Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences were evaluated. In this descriptive analytic survey, 658 college students whose have being lived in dormitory at Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences were selected by clustering sampling method. Data collected using a food frequency questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS[16] software. Mean age of participants was 21.82 for females and 22.76 years for males. Frequency of fruits consumption was 2.6+/- 0.9 per day in female and 2.3+/-0.7 in male, while frequency of vegetables consumption was 3.2+/-1.00 in female and 2.9+/- 0.9 per day in male students. In general, consumption of fruits [p=0.003] and vegetables [p<0.001] were significantly more in female than males students. BMI in students was normal. Results indicated that students hadn't optimal practice towards fruits and vegetables consumption. Thus, it is essential that authorities pay more attention to this specific problem in training the students, in order to maintain the optimal nutritional status

Perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress in university students

Psychological disorders are universally common problems. Social support contributes much to the health of individuals. Focusing upon social support and upon vicissitudes of life can help prevent the depression-induced disorders. The present paper investigated the relationship between perceived social support, depression and perceived stress in university students.The descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 390 students living in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sceince campus, whom were selected based on a simple random selection method. The related questionnaires of multidimensional scales of perceived social support, Beck's depression, and perceived stress then were distributed during midterm among students to collect the necessary data. Data was fed into SPSS 16 and analysed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, Chi-square, and Fisher exact test.Our results indicated that 49.7 per cent of students suffered from specific degrees of depression. 30.5 per cent of students had given educational progress and employment as sources of stress in living in the campus. The perceived social support scores were 28.32+/-9.56, depression, 12.10+/-9.02, and for perceived stress was 26.84+/-8.27. A significant relationship was shown to be between perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress [p<0.001] The conclusion made in the paper is that considering depression and stress is crucial to the health of the students. Also, forming workgroups to increase social support for students can help alleviates depression and stress in university students