Gender difference in eating and dietary habits among university students / Fazillah Bosli ... [et al.]

Healthy diet is essential for adolescents to prevent multiple diseases especially in later years of life. The purpose of this study is to determine the weight status based on body mass index (BMI) categories of a sample of undergraduate students and to examine their eating habits between gender. A total of 240 students from the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Kedah Branch participated in this study. A sample of 100 (41.7%) male and 140 (58.3%) female aged 18 to 20 years were randomly chosen from various faculties and programmes. Primary data collected by distributing selfadministered questionnaire and Pearson’s Chi-Square was used to examine the association between significant gender differences with their eating habits. This study showed that 78.3% of students were normal weight and 10.8% overweight (14% male compared to 8.6% female). Frequency of meal intake for snacks, fruit, fried food, and smoking history were associated with gender.