Dietary habits and metabolic risk factors for non-communicable diseases in a university undergraduate population

摘要

Background: Unhealthy dietary patterns are associated with metabolic changes and increased risk of noncommunicablediseases (NCDs), but these associations have not been investigated in representative populations ofuniversity undergraduates in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). Methods: This study was conducted in the three universities in Lagos State, Nigeria to assess the dietary patternand metabolic risk factors of NCDs among university undergraduate population. Multistage sampling technique wasused to select 506 undergraduates from the universities. Pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain data on sociodemographiccharacteristics and dietary patterns. Body mass index and metabolic risk factors (abdominal obesity,dyslipidemias, high blood pressure and hyperglycemia) were assessed following standard procedures. SPSS (version20) was used for data entry and analysis. Association between variables was determined using chi-square andFisher’s exact tests. Results: The mean age was 20.3 ± 3.5 years; 54.7% of them were female. More than one third (37.6%) had no consistentsource of income or received less than N10, 000 ($31.7) per month. Less than one third (31.0%) ate three daily meals, 23.0% ate breakfast regularly, and only 2% consumed the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. Almost half(44.0%) ate pastry snacks daily. Refined rice was the commonest cereal (28.2%) consumed while meat was morecommonly consumed daily (32.0%) than milk (14.0%) and fish (10.0%). Twenty-nine (29.0%) and 6.2% of the populationdaily consumed carbonated soft drinks and alcohol, respectively. Prevalence of abdominal obesity (based on waistcircumference) was 5% (1.3% in males and 8.4% in females), dyslipidemias (57.3%), pre-hypertension (8.2%), hypertension(2.8%), and pre-diabetes (1.0%). Obesity was positively associated with consumption of alcohol (χ2 = 13.299, p 0.001). Conclusion: Unhealthy diets and metabolic risk factors of non-communicable diseases are prevalent in theundergraduate population studied. Well-recognized recommendations regarding adequate consumption of fruits,vegetables, fish, and whole grains should be emphasized in a targeted manner in this population. Carbonated soft drinksand alcohol consumption should be discouraged to stem a rising tide of metabolic risk factors for non-communicablediseases among undergraduate students.