Evaluación del estado nutricional y características socio demográficas en estudiantes universitarios de la Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética

Abstract

The present research will focus on investigating the nutritional status of fourth semester students at the Technical University of Ambato according to sociodemographic factors. There haven't been many studies centered on public university students in Ecuador, which is why a previous collection of sociodemographic data and food frequency was conducted through validated surveys, to determine the current situation of the population. Through this, it is expected to take actions that improve the nutritional status and knowledge about nutrition among students, thus preventing malnutrition in all its forms. To relate the nutritional status with the sociodemographic characteristics in university students of the career of nutrition and dietetics. The study carried out was observational and descriptive, with a quantitative approach, made up of a population of 29 students distributed between men and women. Of the total population studied, this was distributed in 82.8% women and 17.2% men. In which it was observed that ethnicity and household income have an impact on body fat reserves and protein consumption of students, other sociodemographic variables such as sex, area of residence, family nucleus, monetary income and the basic services did not show a significant relationship with the nutritional status and body composition of the students according to the established value of chi square p=<0.05. The bioimpedance technique was used to assess nutritional status, and then nutritional status was determined using the body mass index (BMI). As a result, it was found that there was only a significant relationship between ethnicity and the percentage of f at, as well as between household monetary income and the percentage of protein consumed. No significant relationships were found with other sociodemographic factors evaluated.