An Assessment on the Dietary Attitudes, Stress Level and Nutrient Intakes by Food Record of Food and Nutrition Major Female University Students

ABSTRACT

This study was performed to investigate the stress level, dietary attitudes and nutrient intakes of Food and Nutrition major female students at a university located in Changwon. A total of 122 female students taking the course 'Meal Ma-nagement' during 2001 - 2004 participated in this study. The general characteristics, stress level and dietary attitudes of the subjects were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. The nutrient intake data collected from 3-day food-record method were analyzed by the Computer Aided Nutritional Analysis Program. The symptoms by stress showed that 'eye strain', 'physically exhausted or get tired' and 'pains on neck or shoulders' were high in 59.4 - 81.8%. The mean scores of stress in 2001 - 2004 were 8.5 - 12.0 out of 30 points and the subjects in 2002 and 2004 scored significantly higher on stress level than the subjects in 2001 did (p<0.01) . The mean scores of dietary attitudes were 58.7 - 66.6 out of 100 points, most of the subjects are belonged to the 'fair' group in terms of dietary habits level. The stress level had a negative correlation with dietary habits (p<0.001). About 1/3 of the subjects, the intake of calcium, vitamin B 2, vitamin A and iron were less than 75% of Korean RDA, whereas more than half of the subject, protein, vitamin C and phosphorus intake were more than 125% of RDA, and intake ratio of Ca and P showed an unbalance of 12. The animal protein intake was higher than the plant protein, whereas the animal vitamin A and iron intake were lower than vegetable food source. In 2001 - 2004, the index of nutritional quality (INQ) of vitamin B 2 and niacin was 0.56 - 0.98, and in 2003, the INQs of vitamin B2 was 0.56, and that of niacin was 0.67, which was extremely low when compared to that of the other nutrients. Therefore, nutritional education is necessary if female university students are to practice optimal nutrition, including well-balanced diets of high nutritional quality.