Articles

Nutritional Status and Dietary Profile of College Students – A Cross Sectional Study from South India

/in /by

Background: Undernutrition is most critical health challenges facing society today, not just in terms of health, but also health care expense. Several studies have revealed that college students often have bad eating habits. Students typically consume less fruits and vegetables per day and report a high intake of high-fat, high-calorie items.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess nutritional status and dietary habits of students studying in university.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of post graduate students with the sample size of 57. A well-structured interview schedule was used for data collection regarding socio demographic data, nutritional status and dietary profile. Results and Discussion: Outcome of the results indicated that majority of them were belonged to the age category of 21-25 years, stayed in hostel, had one sibling and were middle class families. Around 50.6 % of college students were within the healthy Body Mass Index range. Most students showed ‘satisfactory’ dietary habits. Almost more than half of the students reported consuming good amounts of fruits, vegetables, milk and nuts daily. Only 8.8 % of students were eating non-vegetarian daily.

Conclusion: Around 50% of college students, particularly females, were within the range of good nutritional status. Students’ dietary habits were satisfactory. However, students’ knowledge of good diet habits, and nutritional knowledge needs to be improvement. This study offers new insight for formulating policies and intervention programs among college students in the future.

Iron Status in Adolescents with Eating Disorder: A Systematic Review

/in /by

Introduction: Eating disorders are major mental disorders that affect all aspects of life, including quality of life at home or workplace, personal functions, and social life. Malnutrition, particularly iron deficiency, can result from a lack of food intake caused by eating disorders.

Aim: This study aimed to determine the impact of eating disorders in adolescents on hematological alterations and iron serum indexes.

Method: The study was conducted by doing online database searches systematically using relevant search terms and appropriate criteria. Sources of literature that were traced were those published until 2022. The online searches were conducted on the following databases: MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Scielo, and DynaMed Plus.

Results: Searching by keyword yielded 55 titles and abstracts. When they were screened, a total of 41 publications were saved for further analysis. However, only 8 publications met the inclusion criteria and were continued for review (two studies that used a cross-sectional design, one case-control study, and five cohort studies).

Conclusion: Iron deficiency and anemia were uncommon in young women who had eating disorders and weight loss. However, there was a rise in serum ferritin and serum hepcidin, as well as a decrease in transferrin, based on evaluations using biomarkers that were more sensitive for the detection of adolescent anorexia nervosa. In participants who gained weight after receiving nutritional therapy, transferrin levels increased whereas ferritin and hepcidin levels declined (rapid depletion).