Nutritional Knowledge, Anthropometric Status, and the Rate of Fast Food Consumption Among Undergraduate in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State

Abstract Background Nutrition knowledge is an important factor in promoting healthier eating habits and consequently maintaining an appropriate body weight, thus preventing overweight and obesity. Poor eating habits and lack of nutrition knowledge are important public health issues that have serious health implications. Objectives This study assessed the nutritional knowledge, anthropometric status and food consumption among undergraduate students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select 430 respondents from eight colleges in the school. Data was collected from the respondents with the use of a well-structured questionnaire. Ten (10) knowledge questions were adapted from Priya and Sinha (2020) and it was scored and graded overall as poor, average and good nutritional knowledge depending on the overall score. Dietary information was collected using a food frequency questionnaire. BMI and waist-hip ratio were determined from anthropometric assessment. The data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package Service Software (SPSS) version 23.0. Results The result showed the respondents’ mean age to be 23.70 + 1.91. Findings of the study also showed that less than half (46.3%) of the respondents had average nutritional knowledge and 30.0% and 23.7% had poor and good nutritional knowledge, respectively. The result showed that 48.1% of the respondents had normal BMI, while 37.4% and 10.3% were overweight and obese, respectively whereas 4.2% remaining were underweight. Food consumption data showed that 19.8% of the respondents consumed rice daily, and 21.2% consumed garri daily. The result also showed that 20.2% of the respondents consumed instant noodles daily and some (12.1% and 9.5%) of the respondents consumed pizza and shawarma daily. The result showed that there is a significant relationship between fast food consumption and nutritional knowledge of the respondents. Conclusion The findings of the study showed that many of the respondents had poor nutritional knowledge, and poor nutritional status and unhealthy food intake.