A Study of the Anthropometric Indices and Eating Habits of Female College Students

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A study was conducted to investigate the anthropometric indices, fat distribution, eating habits and levels of daily physical activity based on the body mass index (BMI ; kg/㎡) of 180 female college students. This stady was based on survey 2001 using a questionnaire. The results are as follow ; The mean age, height, weight and BMI were 20.41 ${\pm}$ 1.82 years, 161.86 ${\pm}$ 4.51cm, 53.49 ${\pm}$ 7.02kg, and 20.43 ${\pm}$ 2.65kg/㎡, respectively. The group with BMI of under 20 (the lean group) comprised 48.9% : the group with BMI of 20 to 25 (the normal group) comprised 44.4% and the group with BMI of over 25 (the obese group) comprised 6.7% of the subjects. Even though the lean and the normal groups were determined according to BMI. 12.5% of the lean group and 31.3% of the normal group had more than 25% body fat. Of the students, 11.5% of the lean group, 25.0% of the normal group and 58.3% of the obese group had of more than 0.8 waist/Hip Ratio (WHR). The medical problems suffered by the subjects were constipation (24.4%), gastroenteritis (20.6%), anemia(15.0%) and edema(13.3%), which was a result of their eating habits. Out of all the subjects, 27.2% ingested their meals irregularly, 74.4% skipped breakfast, and 92.4% of the lean group, 89.2% of the normal group and 81.8% of the obese group ingested snacks on a daily basis. Their favorite types of snacks were cookies breads and cakes (33.7%), spicy sliced rice cakes pork sausage and boiled fish cakes (18.5%), fruits (15.2%), juices and sodas (13.5%) and hamburgers and pizzas (3.9%). Their consumption of high calorie and processed foods was high, Of the subjects, 38.9% ate out daily. 45.1% had tried weight loss. Those with large upper bodies comprised 11.5%, large intermediate bodies 18.5% and large lower bodies 69.0%. Most of the students were dissatisfied with their body snaps. Of the subjects, 95.1% exercised irregularly. Daily physical activity tended to increase significantly with an increase in BMI : the lean group's average energy consumption was 1509.40㎉ the normal group's was 1792.21㎉ and the obese group's was 2334.63㎉, which were below the recommended value. This study suggests that the maintenance of an ideal weight, the improvement of eating habits and adequate exercise are needed for female college students to improve their health and nutritional status. (J Community Nutrition 5(1) 21∼28, 2003)