Search

Purpose: To evaluate the diet of 225 overweight and obese university students in four countries and to implement a web-based nutrition program. Methods: From the initially examined 1517 medical students from Poland, Belarus, Russia and Lithuania (aged 20.9±1.97 years) a subsample of 225 students (BMI > 25.0 kg/m) were selected. Body weight, height, the thickness of 3 skinfolds and body fat percentage were measured.The intake of energy and macronutrients was assessed using a 24-hour dietary recall. Tukey's test was used for comparison of dietary intake. Results: Russian women and men had higher anthropometic measurements and body fat percentages than others. Among women, excessive intake of proteins in Poland (16.2%) and Belarus (16.9%) and of fats in all groups were observed together with excessive energy share from saturated fatty acids (SFA). Among males, excessive intake of energy from proteins in Polish and Lithuanian students, and fat intake in all groups was observed. Conclusions and implications: The diet of overweight and obese students did not follow recommended guidelines. A nutritional program (web page ) was implemented which allows students to compare their diet to guidelines and modify it in order to decrease SFA and simple sugar intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the food choices and estimate the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among medical students from four Central Eastern European countries. Methods: We examined 1517 students from Poland, Belarus, Russia and Lithuania aged 20.9±1.97 years. Body weight, height, the thickness of 3 skinfolds and body-fat% were measuredand BMI was calculated. The consumption frequency of 39 food products was determined and the differences were estimated by Tukey's procedure. The food products connected with obesity risk were identified by multivariable logistic regression. Results: In 985 female students, underweight was observed more frequently than overweight and obesity, particularly in Belarusian women (16.9% vs 7.2%). In 532 male students, overweight and obesity were observed more frequently than underweight. Body-fat% and skinfold thicknesses were the highest in Russian men. The students ate sweets, light bread, butter and red meat too frequently and except for Belarusians, poultry meat, fish and whole grain dark bread too rarely. Conclusion: The nutritional program was implemented and the suggestion was addressed to the university governments to support the canteens with inexpensive, but well balanced, meals. Noodles, sweet drinks, butter, pork fat, cream, light bread and bread rolls should be limited in the students' dietary scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]