A comparison of health related habits, nutrition knowledge, dietary habits, and blood composition according to gender and weight status of college students in Ulsan

This study was carried out to obtain information related to life styles, nutrition knowledge, and dietary habits according to gender and weight status of college students in Ulsan. The subjects were 324 college students (144 males, 180 females), and they were divided into three groups based on BMI. The average BMI was 21.0 kg/m 2 , and the BMI of underweight, normal, and overweight students were 15.4%, 63.0%, and 21.6%, respectively. Among the male students, 0.1% and 34.0%, and among the female subjects, 27.2% and 11.7%, were included in the underweight and overweight groups, respectively. For dietary habits, the rate of skipping breakfast (34.9%) was considerably higher than those skipping lunch and dinner. Over- all, the nutrition knowledge score, which was assessed by 15 questions, was somewhat low (44.9/100), yet, it was higher in fe- males than in male students. There were significant differences among gender and weight status in several items of di - etary habits such as the speed of eating meals, consuming breakfast on a regular basis, and sleeping hours. 40% of the subjects had appropriate knowledge about high calorie foods with low nutritional value. In the blood analysis of the sub- jects, males had higher hemoglobin levels than females. Further, more females were included in the risk group of Hb, to- tal cholesterol, and LDL. These results suggest that in order to develop nutrition education programs for college students, differences between gender and weight status, dietary habits, and nutrition knowledge level should be considered. (Korean J Nutr 2012; 45(4): 336 ~ 346)