Assessment of Overweight, Obesity and the Dietary Habits of Undergraduate Students of Lagos State University

Abstract

Aims: To determine the prevalence of overweight, obesity and dietary habits of under graduate students of Lagos State University.
 Study Design: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey.
 Place and Duration of Study: Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria, between June 2016 and July 2016.
 Methodology: 150 undergraduate students were selected through multistage random sampling. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, dietary habit and physical activity was obtained using structured questionnaire. Weight, height, Percentage Body Fat (PBF), waist and hip circumferences were measured according to standard procedures to compute Body Mass Indices (BMI), Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) and finally determine nutritional status. The data were presented as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations. Chi square was used to test for significant differences and level of significance set at 0.05.
 Results: The mean BMI, PBF and WHR of the participants were 23.4 ± 2.3 kg/m2, 23.1 ± 5.0% and 0.83 ± 0.09, respectively. Majority of the participants (86.7%) were of normal weight while 8% (10.4% males and 5.5% females) and 5.3% (5.2% males and 5.5% females) were overweight and obese, respectively. Using WHR, more number of students were overweight/obese (34%) compared to BMI (13.3%) and PBF (8.7%), all indicated higher abnormal status among males than females. Few students exhibited poor eating (15%) and physical inactivity (16%) habits. Majority of the students (75.3%) skipped breakfast and the least daily consumed food group was legume/nut group (0.5%). Snacks (42%) and processed (20%) foods were consumed more than roots/tubers (14%) which are staple foods.
 Conclusion: Central obesity was high among undergraduate students of Lagos State University. Breakfast skipping and low legume meal consumption were major dietary problems. Healthy lifestyle should be promoted among the university students to prevent overweight/obesity and its associated diseases.

Feeding habits, Overweight, Obesity and Hypertension and Associated Factors among Polytechnic Students in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria

“…The study shows that many of the students had inadequate feeding habits. More than one third of them consumed less than three meals in a day, although this result was higher than the finding of Ukegbu et al (2017) which was 34% and lower than 60.7% of undergraduate students in Cameroun (Niba et al, 2017) and 83% Lagos State University students in Southwest, Nigeria (Arisa et al, 2020). A large proportion of the students skipped meals and breakfast was the frequently skipped meal with about half of them.…”

“…Recent findings of studies in Southwest region of Nigeria revealed that different level of physical activity and days of physical activity correlated with general and central obesity among university students (Sedodo et al, 2020;Arisa et al, 2020;Ikujenlola & Adekoya, 2020). Lack of physical activity was found to contribute to obesity in 86% of private university students in the region (Okondu et al, 2020).…”

“…In another study in Osun State, about half of university students consumed fruits and vegetables less than three times in a week (Ikujenlola & Adekoya, 2020). A study among university students in Lagos showed that 83% skipped meals and 75% skipped breakfast (Arisa et al, 2020). These authors found skipping of breakfast as a predictor of overweight and obesity.…”

“…Such erratic eating habits in this population group may predispose them to nutritional risk that leads to the development of various non-communicable diseases including overweight and obesity. Lifestyle practices such as consumption of alcohol and smoking are common among these young adults (Alhaji & Alqubati, 2020;Arisa et al, 2020). A study on students of a Federal Polytechnic in Nigeria revealed that more than half of the students consumed alcohol (Agwo & Adewunmi, 2020).…”

Impact of Dietary Habits on Health Status of College Going Students in Punjab

“…In this regard, undergraduate students are more vulnerable and have high risks to become overweight or obese. Other aspects to adopt poor dietary routines for college students include social setup and high academic demands by which they become prone to alter the sleep restrictions and sleep-wake cycle and often skipping of breakfast (Arisa et al, 2020;Willie et al, 2020).…”