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Food neophobia, described as a reluctance to eat and or avoid new food, is a personality trait that affects food choice. Despite its potential influence on an individual's food intake, food neophobia has been poorly investigated in Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate food neophobia and its association with sociodemographic factors and food preferences in a sample of Bangladeshi university students. Five hundred students from five public universities completed the structured surveys. Food neophobia was assessed by a 10-item validated food neophobia scale with some minor modifications based on study settings. A multiple linear regression model was used to observe the factors associated with food neophobia. The mean food neophobia score among study participants was 37.45 (SD: 13.39, Range: 13–67). According to the adjusted statistical model, being female (regression coefficient, β = 2.73), having higher monthly family income (β = −6.64), being underweight (β = 4.68), being overweight (β = −4.63), having any food allergy (β = 9.09), and a history of sickness after eating a new food item (β = 5.16) were significantly associated with food neophobia amongst the participants. The participants' liking of various food items such as vegetables were significantly correlated with food neophobia scores. Nutrition education policies and programs are of importance to address the students' food neophobia during their tertiary education so that they maintain lifelong healthy dietary habits and consume a variety of foods to improve their physical health and well-being.

Background: The Coronavirus is still exhibiting cases in Bangladesh thus educational institutes are still ceased over one year, it becomes burdens to students at post lockdown period. Objectives: Identifying the changes in eating habits and lifestyles including, physical activity, sleeping hours, and sleep quality after the cancellation of lockdown than the period of restrictions. Methods: A quasi-experimental cross-sectional study was conducted among 394 students in Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire from February 3, 2021, to February 13, 2021. Results: Consuming homemade foods drops by 8.63% at post lockdown than lockdown period. At post lockdown, 26.67% of students gained weight whereas 47.46% of respondents never engaged in any physical works. There has been a significant correlation between weight gain and physical activities (p = 0.007). Not continuing the academic activities from home was significantly associated with weight changes (AOR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.95), meals per day (AOR = 3.25; 95% CI: 1.79, 5.92), screen time for entertainment (AOR = 3.08; 95% CI: 1.78, 5.33), sleeping hours (AOR = 2.23; 95% CI: 1.30, 3.83), and sleep quality (AOR = 2.38; 95% CI: 1.35, 4.23) whereas female gender was related to meals per day (AOR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.95) and sleep quality (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.85). However, 43.91% of respondents never felt any sleep disturbances. The rates of students who always experienced mentally tired, resentment, and sadness at post lockdown was lower than lockdown period. All of these changes were significant (p < 0.000) in terms of the lockdown situation. Conclusions: This study shows notable changes in eating habits and lifestyles after lockdown which may indicate the tendency to adopt normal life than restrictions.

In low-resource settings like Bangladesh, there is a dearth of research on the mental health of university students. This pilot study aimed to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms, loneliness, and physical activities as well as the associated factors of depressive symptoms among graduate students in a public university of Bangladesh.This cross-sectional study was carried out among 323 graduate students between February 2019 and May 2019. By the convenience sampling technique, data were collected by a pretested, structured questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) tool with a cut-off score of ≥10 vs. less; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale was applied to assess loneliness, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) scale was used to measure physical activity level.The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 52% and about 43% of participants felt most lonely. About 32.8% of students were involved in low physical activity. Being female, from lower income families, having poor academic performance, experiencing shorter sleep time, lower physical activity, and being lonely were potential risk factors for depressive symptoms among graduate university students. A positive correlation was found between loneliness and depressive symptoms of students (r = 0.367, p < 0.001).The higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among Bangladeshi graduate university students suggests the need for situation analysis, confirmatory clinical diagnosis, in-depth qualitative explorations, and large-scale surveys to explore the burden of such disorders and design appropriate low-intensity interventions like implementing student counselling service, offering mental assistance or other mental health support program in the country.