Nurul Huda
Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Ruzita Ahmad
Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden 11800, Penang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The objective of this survey was to measure the Nutritional status through Body Mass Index (BMI) profile among Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) main campus students. The data was randomly collected from students around USM lecture theaters during day time. A number of 624 students (male 264 and female 360) were involved in the survey. The result showed that the mean age, weight and height among the students were 21.42±1.38 years, 55.65±12.21 kg and 163.43±8.89 cm, respectively. The mean BMI of all the samples was 20.81±3.61 kg/m2, with male students showing slightly higher BMI (21.84±4.13 kg/m2) compared to female students (20.05±2.96 kg/m2). Malay students showed the highest BMI, followed by Indian and Chinese students. The BMIs for the Malay, Indian and Chinese students were 21.01±3.67 kg/m2, 20.80±3.72 kg/m2 and 20.43±3.19 kg/m2, respectively. Based on the BMI result, about 61% of all the samples were in the normal range, 27% were underweight and about 12% were overweight or more. A higher percentage of the female students were in the underweight category (33%) compared to the male students (20%). Based on race, about 63% of the Malay students were normal weight, 25% were underweight and 12% in the overweight or more category. For the Chinese students, about 60% were normal weight, 30% were underweight and 10% in were in the overweight or more category. For the Indian students, about 57% were normal weight, 28% were underweight and 15% were in the overweight or more category. This preliminary data showed that there is a high percentage of underweight students among USM students. Further assessments need to be carried out to survey if these underweight students show symptoms of clinical problems related to nutritional deficiencies.
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How to cite this article
Nurul Huda and Ruzita Ahmad, 2010. Preliminary Survey on Nutritional Status among University Students at Malaysia. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 9: 125-127.
DOI: 10.3923/pjn.2010.125.127
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjn.2010.125.127
DOI: 10.3923/pjn.2010.125.127
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjn.2010.125.127
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