The nutritional intake of undergraduates at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences

Abstract

In developing countries the cost of treating disease is much more than prevention and so there is now a lot of interest in understanding nutrition. In this pilot study we selected a cohort of pre-clinical students studying at the College of Health Sciences in the University of Zimbabwe. This study was carried to investigate the gender-based weekly consumption of different food categories amongst University of Zimbabwe students. Semi-structured questionnaires distributed to 100 undergraduate students (male= 47; female= 52). The proportion of male and female respondents, age and body weight did not differ significantly. Principal foods consumed by males included sadza and cerevita; naartjies, bananas and avocado pears; tomatoes, onions, covo and spinach; beef; and condensed milk and powdered milk occupied the larger proportions. Females frequently ate a lot of bread, cerevita, sadza and cereal; lemons and avocado pears; onions, tomatoes, rape and covo; beef and soya meat; creamer, powdered milk and milk. This study suggests that females consumed a greater variety of food, including the infrequent types by comparison with men.