Factors that affect dietary intakes of university undergraduate students: a case study of Makerere University School of Statistics and Planning
MetadataShow full item record
The main objective of this study was to determine the factors that affect dietary intakes of undergraduate students at Makerere University SSP. The study used primary data which was obtained through administering questionnaires to 107 students and the data collected was analyzed using SPSS and Stata. The study was guided by four hypotheses. To achieve this, both Univariate and bivariate analysis were adopted. The Univariate analysis consisted of descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages. Chi-square tests were used in testing the research hypotheses at a 95% confidence interval. The results obtained showed that there was a significant relationship between nutritional knowledge and dairy products intake. Nutritional knowledge has no significant relationship with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and proteins intakes. Students’ food preference has a significant relationship with fruits, vegetables, dairy intakes. Students’ food preference has no significant relationship with whole grains and proteins intake. The price of cooked food has a significant relationship with dairy intakes and no significant relationship with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and proteins intakes. Students’ residence has a significant relationship with their fruits, whole grains, and dairy intake. Students’ residence has no significant relationship with vegetables and proteins intake. There is no significant association between gender and year of study with dietary intakes. The study revealed that most University students had unhealthy food intakes, characterized by high intake of fast foods, proteins, and low intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and dairy products. The main factors discussed are students’ food preference and residence. The study recommends that students especially those who prefer fast foods should reduce the consumption of these foods and include more fruits, vegetables, and dairy products in their diet. Students especially those who stay on-campus should include fruits and dairy products in their diet. Students who stay with parents should improve on their fruits, whole grains, and dairy intakes. Students should seek nutritional knowledge about dairy products and this will improve on their dairy intakes. Human rights-based approaches and policies should be made to ensure that dairy products are equally available to all individuals at a relatively affordable price.