A Study on the Evaluation of Relationship Between BreakfasEating Habits of Grade Students of Medical Faculty and Body Mass Index

Abstract

Aim: This study was aimed to investigate the breakfast habits of medical faculty students and related factors.

Subjects and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Necmettin Erbakan University Faculty of Medicine. After obtaining ethical and written permissions, the data of the study were collected between November and December 2015. For the research, a data collection form was developed by the researchers, consisting of 29 questions on the sociodemographic characteristics and nutritional characteristics of the participants. Participants’ height and body weight were measured and their body mass indexes were calculated. Mann-Whitney U test was used for the statistical analysis of numerical variables, and relationships between categorical data were evaluated by chi-square test. For statistical significance, p <0.05 was accepted. SPSS 15.0 package program was used for data entry and analysis.

Results: In this study, 352 medical faculty students, 56.3% (n = 198) of whom were in the first year and 43.8% (n = 154) in the 6th grade, were included. Only 8.0% of the participants were found to be underweight, 71.3% as normal weight, 18.2% overweight, 2.6% as obese. A statistically significant difference was found between the frequency of having breakfast and gender and classes (p=0.027, p<0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between the classes of the students in terms of the place where breakfast was served, having breakfast together with a person and the thought that breakfast had an effect on success (p<0.001, p=0.009, p=0.024).

Conclusion: According to the students, it was revealed that the most important meal of the day is breakfast, breakfast is the most frequently skipped meal for not to be late to class and the most skipped meal is breakfast. Students should be educated about transforming their knowledge about healthy eating into attitudes and behaviors, and they should be encouraged to start the day with breakfast, the most important meal, with various activities.