How the Eating Habits influences Health of Students - Report Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction 2 Method 3 Results & Discussion 4 Conclusion 8 Works Cited 9 Appendix 10 Introduction There is no research required in order to validate the fact that nowadays, all over the world including U.K, students eat too few vegetables and drink too much alcohol. The first study in U.K pertaining to dietary changes investigated the wide ranging issues associated with the eating habits of students. According to Dr. Ricardo Costa, male students are more inclined towards “disordered eating patterns”. (Arnot, 2010) As far as alcohol is concerned, for which students went out twice a week, they take about 2 to 15 units of alcohol in each sitting, reported Dr. Ricardo Costa. According to him, this trend is common for all students, no matter from which social background are they coming from. (Arnot, 2010) Habit of eating out has become an integral part of people’s lifestyle nowadays. The choices of restaurants have diversified now more than ever before. There used to be only Chinese, Italian and Indian food but now Turkish, Mexican, Japanese and Mongolian are amongst them. (Lucy, 2006) Another trend which has been observed in the eating lifestyle of students in U.K is that they eat on a go. Grandparents and parents often frown at this behavior as it is included in bad manners but eat on a go has become a regular habit as one is rushing from one home to school, college or university. (Lucy, 2006) According to a survey conducted by University of Leicester, the eating lifestyle of university students is led by the consumption of fast food. According to Hannah Cooper, the fast food consumption gets increased as soon as the students leave for school, college and university and begin to cater themselves, despite of knowing the strong linkage between the consumption of fast food and obesity.(University of Leicester, 2010) Obviously, it is not possible for anyone to survive without food but nowadays, food also comes with many problems attached to it. Too much food will definitely make one fatter, yet too little food will also be dangerous as one can prone to internal weakness. Fast food is not dangerous for health because most it consists of fresh ingredients, but what one must avoid is junk food as it comes with lots of fats and diseases. (Anggoro, 2011) Therefore, this report aims to study the eating habits of students of U.K. For this purpose, a research has been conducted. In this research, students were asked to fill out questionnaires depending upon their habits. The results are then gathered and illustrated through charts and graphs. Further explanation for figures has also been mentioned. At the end, results, discussion and conclusion are mentioned which contain the final overview of the entire report. (Word Count: 440) Method The method which has been utilized for performing this research is survey of U.K students. For this purpose, questionnaire was constructed containing questions related to the eating patterns and preference of students. One of the questionnaires has been attached in appendix in order to get an idea. The only requirement for filling out the questionnaire is to be a citizen of U.K and student of U.K school, college and university. A total of 30 respondents were selected aging from 15 to 26, as this is the age bracket of students. The survey has been conducted through questionnaires which were distributed to school, college and university students. The results gathered from the questionnaires are mentioned through graphs and charts. These results clearly show that most of the students are inconsiderate of their eating habit and preference. Most of the students preferred meat than vegetables and fruits. A very small percentage of students take breakfast while most of the students skip breakfast which is not a good sign. Many of the students are not sure about the level of healthiness belief. While conducting the survey, as such there was no difficulty encountered and most of the students were willing and open to share this data in a truthful manner. Therefore, answers provided by the students are reliable and data which has been gathered is also based upon authentic information. (Word Count: 227) Results & Discussion The analysis of the eating habits of the sample has shown some important findings. These findings have been split into four major habits which are as follows: 1. Level of Healthiness Beliefs 2. Attitude to choose food 3. Attitude to Breakfast 4. Attitude to Dining-out spending These all categories individually as well as collectively indicate a person’s individual eating habit as well as overall sample’s eating habit. In the following, the results in respect of all these four major categories have been analyzed separately with respect to each category followed by a discussion on the findings. Level of Healthiness Beliefs Major chunk of the respondents which amount to around 43% of the whole sample indicates that they are indifferent with respect to the belief regarding the nature of diet such that they usually do not take care of what diet they are taking in. Around 30% of the respondents strongly agree that they take very good care of their diet as their eating habit. 15% respondents fairly agree with the importance of diet as a health perspective. Very few respondents showed their disagreement in respect of diet as in integral part of health perspective. The following pie chart specifically highlights the respondent’s preferences with respect to the importance of diet. Attitude to choose food In order to check as to which sort of food the people prefer among fruits, vegetables and meat, around 15 respondents who are around 50% of the sample, prefer meat as their most preferred food. Out of 30 respondents, 8 of them preferred vegetables and rest of 7 showed their interest in taking fruits as their most preferred food. The given bar chart highlights the respondents’ preferences with respect to the food chosen. Attitude to Breakfast The respondents were asked their attitude regarding breakfast as the integral element of daily meal. 50% of the respondents believe that breakfast is not a necessary item of daily meal. However, 26% respondents think they should take breakfast every day. But, around 24% respondents remained indifferent as to whether they should eat breakfast on daily basis or not. The following pie chart describes respondents’ belief in a brief manner. Attitude to Dining out spending Half of the respondents spend around £25 to £50 in respect of dining out. 30% of the respondents show preferred to remain economic and spend less than £25 on dining out. The other 20% respondents are diehard fans of spending even more than £75 in respect of eating outside their home in a restaurant or any other outside place. The following bar chart depicts the people’s spending nature and limitations in respect of dining out. From the above findings, few major patterns are quite obvious such that majority of respondents does not give importance to their diet which is quite alarming. Another interesting finding came along in the form of people’s preference to choose food as meat turned out to be the most preferred food over fruits and vegetables. Breakfast related habit has also remained quite interesting as half of the people do not consider it as an integral part of their daily meal and do not take it usually. The last finding of the analysis of eating habit came along in the form of spending habit towards dining out and yet again majority of the respondents preferred to remain a bit economical and believe that around £50 is the maximum amount that they should spend on dining out. These findings represent that due to busy routines and schedules, majority of the people do not take care of their eating habit very cautiously as they do not give importance to diet, prefer unhealthy meat over the natural vegetables and fruits, do not take breakfast on daily basis etc. The various discrepancies in these eating habits result in significant diseases which affects the people’s health as well as their productivity in their respective organizations. (Word Count: 648) Conclusion On a concluding note, the purpose of this report was to investigate whether the eating habits and preferences of students residing in U.K are healthy or not. Moreover, a survey was done to find out the spending habits and eating pattern of students. Due to small sample size, the results which are gathered can vary and might not portray the real life situation. At the same time, it can be observed that in such small sample size, the overall picture of the eating pattern of U.K students has been demonstrated quite well and the result apparently look reliable. Firstly, level of healthiness belief of students is not much strong. In fact, the majority of the students are neutral about the nutritional information and habits which means that they just want to get fed irrespective of knowing whether the food is healthy or nutritious for them or not. The only objective of majority of students is to enjoy taste and get stuffed. Secondly, the type of food that students select is more inclined towards meat than fruits or vegetable. 15 out of 30 students selected meat while the proportion of student selecting fruit or vegetable was much lower i.e. 7 and 8 respectively. It is not bad to eat meat but a constant habit of consuming meat can lead to obesity. Thirdly, the most important breakfast for the people having ages 15 to 26, is breakfast. It is essential for youngsters to have adequate amount of breakfast but while conducting this survey, it has been found that half of the student population skip breakfast. Moreover, it has been found that majority of the students take below 4 glasses of water every day which is another dangerous sign for their health. Fourthly, the dining out habits of students has also increased more than ever before. According to the survey, students spend a large amount of their pocket money in eating out with their friends, comprising of £25 to £50. After analyzing the questionnaires, it became evident that while dining out majority of students select unhealthy food including fries, donuts, snacks etc. As a final note, this study cannot provide the overall picture of the eating habits of students. Selecting respondents in a random fashion has helped in acquiring the best possible and reliable data. Therefore, this paper provides a clear picture of the fact that these days students are more indulged in unhealthy and non-nutritious diet. A good awareness is required for the students in order to make them more attracted towards healthy foods otherwise such unhealthy eating pattern of students is not only harmful for them but can also cause more social problems in society including obesity, food poisoning, risks of diseases etc. (Word count: 452) Works Cited Anggoro, H. B., 2011. Healthy Life with Healthy Food. [Online] Available at: http://lancasterisc.wordpress.com/tag/eating-habits-of-international-students/ [Accessed 16 April 2012]. Arnot, C., 2010. Male students eschew balanced diet in favour of supplements. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/09/male-students-eating-habit [Accessed 16 April 2012]. Lucy, 2006. Eating Habits. [Online] Available at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/indonesia-common-trend-uk-eatinghabits.htm [Accessed 16 April 2012]. University of Leicester, 2010. Fast food firmly entrenched in students lifestyle. [Online]Available at: http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2010-2019/2010/01/nparticle.2010-01-11.7094783731 [Accessed 16 April 2012]. Appendix Questionnaire Topic: Health & Diet 1. What is your gender? □Male √Female 2. How many meals do you eat every day? □1 □2 √3 □4 3. Tick the statement you agree with. I have a balanced diet. □Strongly agree □Agree □Neither agree nor disagree √Disagree □Strongly disagree 4. Do you know what a balanced diet is? □Yes □No √Nor sure 5. Do you prefer eating vegetables, fruit or meat? □Vegetable (go to Q6) □Fruits (go to Q7) √Meat (go to Q8) 6. Tick below at least three vegetables that you like to eat. □Tomatoes □Carrots □Peas □Beans □Cabbage □Mushroom □Potato □Tofu □Onion □Celery □Broccoli □Eggplant □Garlic □Pumpkin □Red potato □Other 7. Tick below at least three types of fruit that you like most. □Apple □Banana □Orange □Pear □Kiwi fruit □Mango □Pineapple □Strawberry □Grape □Water melon □Lemon □Cherry □Blueberry □Others 8. Tick the type(s) of meat you prefer to eat. √Chicken □Beef □Lamb □Pork □Turkey □Seafood □Others 9. Do you pay attention to diet nutrition? □Very □Normal √Never 10. Which one of the choices below do you think is a good habit? □Have some soup before dinner √Have some fruit after dinner □Have some dessert after dinner 11. How often do you eat fruit? □Everyday □2-3 times a week √Several times a month □Never 12. How often do you have some snacks? □Everyday √2-3 times a week □Several times a month □Never 13. Do you eat breakfast every day? □Yes √No □Sometimes 14. Which going for lunch with your colleagues you are most likely to have √A sandwich, coffee and donut □Pizza □Meat and vegetables □Other______________________________ 15. How many glasses of water do you drink daily? □1 √2 □3 □4or more 16. Does the nutritional information on food labeling in the grocery store influence your purchases? □Yes √No 17. When you have a dinner out for two, how much do you typically spend total (drinks with dinner included?) √Under￡25 □￡25 –￡50 □￡51 –￡75 □￡76 –￡100 □Over ￡100 Thank you very much! Read More