Breakfast, food consumption pattern and nutritional status among private university students in Shah Alam, Malaysia

Abstract

Poor food consumption pattern and breakfast habit result in poor nutritional status and increased risks of diseases in students. Hence, a quantitative research to study breakfast, food consumption pattern and nutritional status of private university students was conducted. Objective of the research was to determine association between breakfast taking habit and food consumption pattern with nutritional status of the students, measured as ideal BMI. A questionnaire containing 24 items was administered to 384 respondents (161 male and 223 female) using convenience sampling method. Analysis showed that 52.9% and 33.1% of respondents had high frequency (measured as often and always on Likert scale) of eating outside and eating junk food, respectively A total of 54.9% respondents had ideal BMI. On the other hand, 26.8% respondents were observed to be overweight, while 8.9% were obese, with average BMI of the respondents recorded as 24. More than 50% of the respondents were also found to have a waist circumference of 30 to 39 inches, with an average of 31 inches. As a conclusion, the nutritional status of the students considered good, but still breakfast consumption is not high. More promotion about the importance of breakfast taking should be done among university students.