[Smoking. Prevalence and attitudes among health science students]. / Hábito tabáquico. Prevalencia y actitudes en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud.

OBJECTIVES: To find the prevalence of tobacco use among Health Sciences students at the University of La Laguna, its main features and their attitude to preventive programmes and the struggle against tobacco. DESIGN: A descriptive crossover study (prevalence study). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The target population group was the 371 students matriculated at the two Nursing Schools and the 305 students in the first, third and sixth years at the Medicine Faculty of the University of La Laguna. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Through an anonymous and voluntary questionnaire, self-filled by 76.4% of the population-group under study, 31.1% stated they were smokers, though 7.6% only occasionally. 4.3% said they were ex-smokers and 64.6% non-smokers. There were no significant differences for gender, but smokers predominated among the oldest students, as did non-smokers among the youngest. 74.8% of smokers said they would like to give up for good, which 67.5% had attempted on some occasion. The restrictive measures on tobacco consumption and advertising were viewed positively. CONCLUSIONS: There is strong motivation to give up tobacco among this group, which generally accepts restrictive measures on tobacco consumption and advertising.

[Food habits among children in a district of the island of Gran Canaria]. / Hábitos alimentarios de la población infantil de un distrito en la isla de Gran Canaria.

OBJECTIVE: To find out the characteristics of the diet of a population-group of young children and to quantify their caloric and nutrient intake. DESIGN: A descriptive study of a crossover type by means of a questionnaire on the frequency of food consumption. Stratified random sampling. SETTING: A Primary Care Centre. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 264 healthy children aged from 2 to 8, representative of a District. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The children studied had overall sufficient caloric intake ("calories consumed/calories recommended" index of 1 +/- 0.2), with an excess of proteins (16.6 +/- 1.8% of calories) and lipids (36.3 +/- 4% of calories, mainly of animal origin) to the detriment of carbohydrate intake (47.7 +/- 5% of the caloric intake). There was an important percentage (42%) of children whose iron intake was deficient. Only 9% of children had a poor calcium intake. The vitamin intake was adequate. CONCLUSIONS: The variability of alimentary customs between zones means that we must identify the dietetic habits of the population group (or even individuals) we are serving, especially for the paediatric age group. We propose systematic Primary Care use of questionnaires on food consumption to enable the detection and correction of nutritional dangers.