Evaluation of dietary pattern, supplement intake and physical activity towards quality of life among nursing and medical imaging students In Universiti Teknologi MARA Selangor, Malaysia / Tengku Norfarah Aina Tengku Hasan ...[et al.]

INTRODUCTION: Dietary pattern, supplement intake and physical activity (PA) are believed to contribute a positive quality of life however the previous research contribute a different finding. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was conducted to evaluate the dietary pattern, supplement intake and physical activity towards quality of life among Nursing and Medical Imaging students in UiTM Selangor. METHOD: The cross-sectional study design was used in this study. This research is quantitative and the participants are from UiTM Selangor’s student for both gender. The tools that had been used are 24-hour dietary recalled for three days (two days for weekdays and one day for weekend), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), WHOQOL-BREF, Dietary Supplement Questionnaire and Breakfast Eating Habit Questionnaire. The population involved in this study was 373 of Nursing and Medical Imaging students. Sample size was calculated by using Raosoft, the number of sample size are 190 participants which involved 95 students each courses. RESULT: This study found that majority of the sample (66.3%, n=126) have poor dietary pattern and failed to meet Malaysia Recommended Nutrition Intake (RNI). Next, only 32.1% of respondents have prevalence on dietary supplement used. The most frequently used of supplement is Vitamin C (25.3%, n=48) and the least frequent use of supplement is Selenium (3.7%, n=7) followed by Aloe Vera and Fish Oil (8.4%, n=16) which are the most popular use in non-vitamin and non-mineral. Furthermore 40.5% (n=77) of the respondents practicing low physical activity in their life. In our finding, the sample did not show any positive association between dietary pattern which is between calories and quality of life (QoL). For domain 1 p=0.269, domain 2 p=0.278, domain 3 p=0.455 and domain 4 p=0.833. In term of supplement intake, domain 1 p=0.956, domain 2 p=0.974, domain 3 p=0.135 and domain 4 p=0.166. Moreover, for physical activity towards QoL, domain 1 p=0.773, domain 2 p=0.130, domain 3 p=0.662 and domain 4 p=0.355. CONCLUSION: Most of the samples failed to meet Malaysia Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI). Macronutrient such as calories, protein, fat and carbohydrate are being consumed as much as they want according to their lifestyle and habitual eating behaviour that can be seen through their recall diary diet for three days. Furthermore, the result of our study also found that there is minimal amount of the samples who took supplement in their daily intake. Statistical analysis also shows that students are prefer to do low physical activity in their daily routine. Sedentary lifestyle is still existing and popular among student that has been proved by the previous research. Thus, quality of life does not affect by the dietary pattern, supplement intake and physical activity. For further study, we recommend for the next researcher to find out the effectiveness of health education that focus on dietary and supplements intake and physical activity.