Adequacy of Hostel Diet in Terms of Nutrient Supply

Abstract

In most of the countries for the higher education the student live in hostel and in hostel life young boys and girls neglect the importance of nutrition. Diet is vital in life as a major determinant of health, while good nutrition is essential for growth, development and maintenance of health throughout the life. A Balance dietary intake which contains all the five classes of food is essential in maintaining good health. It is highly important to have adequate dietary intake to complement daily physical and mental activities. Indian Council of Medical Research (2010 and 2020 too) has recommended diet and nutrient intake for all age groups and activities, which may be considered while deciding about balance diet. The study was conducted among 60 students (30 boys and 30 girls) from all colleges of Dr.RPCAU who were residing in University hostel and studying in seventh semester. In order to extract relevant information an interview schedule was developed and was subjected to pretesting before starting the research work. In order to know about the dietary intake of subjects 24 hours dietary recall method was used. The mean intake of nutrients were compared with the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) given by ICMR (2010 and 2020) to find out the percentage of nutrients in the diet of university students. When the nutrient intake was compared with RDA(2010) boys were consuming more protein(28.82%),fat(10.33%),iron(42.12%).vitamin-c(36.4%) and less calorie(6.93%), calcium(-6.91%),vitamin B12(-83%) and folic acid(-14.11%). Whereas, girls were consuming more protein(9.85%),fat(7.64%)vitamin-c(55.17%) and less calorie(0.93%),iron(-7.1%),calcium(-22.23%),vitaminB12(-76%)and folic acid(-18.89%) when compared with RDA 2010. Similarly when the study was compared with latest RDA 2020 both the groups were consuming more calorie, proteins and less calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B12,and folic acid. In terms of fat and iron consumption, boys were taking less fat and more iron whereas girls were taking more fat and less iron. t-test was computed to found the statistical difference between nutrient intake of boys and girls. . The energy, protein and iron were found statistically significant and positive while fat, calcium and folic acid was found non-significant. It was also found that vitamin C and vitaminB12 was found non significant and negative. The relationship between protein and iron intake was found significant with haemoglobin level of students. Therefore there is an urgent need to make students aware about importance of micronutrients in maintaining their good health and future health security. K e y w o r d s Hostel Diet, Nutrient intake, RDA Accepted: 18 December 2020 Available Online: 10 January 2021 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2021) 10(01): 2680-2686