EWC661

TITLE : Dietary habits during term time among university students.

BACKGROUND OF STUDY :

Generally, balanced diet discusses the food groups or protein fat and
carbohydrate, fluid also calories. An article by Sam Abraham,(…..) says lack of
nutrition affects students’ health and academic success. Agreeing to him, I believe
that university students may have sufficient knowledge regarding nutritional
requirements; however, the lifestyle in college gives them more freedom to choose the
type and the amount of food they consume. Related, The Borneo Post also published
an article on how transition into independent university life could cause poorer eating
habits. Certain students might think that skipping meals and eating way too much junk
food has no effects on them; but they got that wrong. It reminds to not skip breakfast
and it is the most important meal of the day as it helps improve attentiveness and
presentation during lectures. Mentioned in the article as well is the study done
Nutrition Society of Malaysia (NSM) showed that those who had breakfast skipped,
presents low physical activity level. To maintain an optimized health as well as
weight, balance diet is the key. However, such thing depends on the individual
himself. To succeed, one must first follow a good food pyramid. This simply means to
make healthy eating easier. It is all about getting the correct amount of nutrients such
as protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals students need to maintain
wonderful health. The precise food pyramid includes plenty of vegetables, salads and
fruits. Besides that is a serving of wholemeal cereals and breads, potatoes, pasta at
every meal. However, go for wholegrain varieties whenever possible. Have some
milk, yogurt and cheese at the most considerate amount. Such amount also meant for
meat, fats, spreads and oils. As for sugary and salty food and drinks, avoid as much as
students can. Students must aware that environment plays important contribution at
getting balanced diet too. According to Kurubaran Ganasegeran’s article, eating habits
have been crucial concern among the university students. As a university student
myself, I find that the food sold in cafe contributes major impacts on students’ health.
Some students get overweight, underweight, obese during their term time. Most
would get the food from college’s and faculty’s canteen. For that, this report will
highlight on the eating habits among university students of engineering faculty during
their term time.
PROBLEM STATEMENT :
Foods can be broken into five distinct food groups, each serving a distinct
purpose. Understanding how these food groups affect your body can help you
determine what, and how much, you should eat.
The recommended dietary needs that the average adult from age of 19-25 consume
approximately 2,000 calories per day. This included 6-11 servings of grains like rice,
pasta, bread, and cereal, along with 3-5 servings of vegetables.
The dining facilities or cafeteria in UiTM Shah Alam should provide foods and
beverages that would complies with the daily dietary needs for students. Developing
a balanced and nutritional diet can both enhance your academic performance and
prepare you for a lifetime of healthy eating.

Students are known to favour more on consuming fast food, soda, and processed
food are unhealthy and they contain additives. Students may not have sufficient
knowledge regarding nutritional requirements; however, the transition to college life
gives them more freedom to choose the type and the amount of food they eat. Most
college campuses have dining facilities that provide a variety of food options, which
can lead to establishing either good or bad eating behaviour. Most of the dining
facilities in UiTM Shah Alam provide food that appears not to comply to the dietary
needs for students.
The lack of awareness among university students on the healthy eating habits are
worrisome. Due to the lack of awareness about their food intake, they are
continuously may have been exposed to serious disease at a young age. Nutritionist
expressed that imbalanced diet leads to chronic disease than can shorten life.

Poor eating habits are also associated with lower academic grades, susceptibility
to illness, and increased fatigue. Other side effects include a higher risk of depression,
anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, menstrual problems, and sleep
disturbances.
Therefore the research are done to attain the eating habits among university students
in order to come out with a solution to the unhealthy and unbalanced dietary provides
by the university dining facilities. In response to this problem, our study proposes to
investigate several options into making the dining facilities to provide healthy foods.
PURPOSE OF STUDY :

The need to consume healthy foods at university is essential as it will keep a person
strong, healthy, become more energetic and assisting well function brain. The purpose
of this research was to know the eating habits and knowledge of nutritional
requirements for health among university students during term time.

OBJECTIVES :
1. To identify the eating trends among UiTM’s student.
2. To create awareness about eating a balance diet among UiTM’s student.

RESEARCH QUESTION :
1. What are the eating habits predominantly found among UiTM’s students?
2. What is the level of knowledge of UiTM’s student about consuming a balance
diet?

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY :
Nowadays, students are not be aware of their dietary habits. They also not concern
that mental and physical health can be effected by the dietary habits. By findings from
this research, we can find out the right choice of dietary habits for the students and
find out the level of knowledge of the student about their dietary habits. It can help
students to be more alert about their dietary habits. Besides, they can improve their
knowledge and be more aware on their dietary habits. awareness about the types of
food for students

SCOPE OF STUDY:

The scope of study was conducted in the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on the
issues about the eating trends and the level of knowledge on the balance diet among
UiTM’S student. The respondent, who were between the ages of 20 and 25 years old
were randomly selected. The data collected by using questionnaires was distributed
from 1st of October 2019 to 6th October 2019 using the google form and a few of
student were interviewed.

REFERENCES
https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/student-nutrition/