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Ali Z, Bashier Eltayeb L, Fattiny SZ, Mallhi IY, Javed F, Alyousef AA, Ijaz Q, Younas S, Khan I, Batool Z, Ahmad M. COVID-19 and diet: efforts towards a balanced diet and sustainable nutrition among university students in Pakistan. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16730. [PMID: 38188176 PMCID: PMC10771080 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Nutrition is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals, including adolescents. The objective of this cross-sectional descriptive survey study was to investigate university students' awareness of immunity enhancing foods, food nutritive values, and eating practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 839 university students from four different universities in Pakistan participated in the study from October 2021 to January 2022, 397 of which were male and 442 were female. A total of 419 students were studying in medical disciplines while 420 were non-medical students. The students had significant knowledge (p < 0.05) about COVID-19, and nutritional habits were seen in both medical and non-medical students. Results showed that medical students (n-201) were slightly more aware of immunity-enhancing foods and the nutritive values of foods compared to engineering students (n-79). However, eating practices were generally poorly adopted by all of the university students. Male and female students were not significantly different in their mean replies to questions on the nutritive value of food or in their eating habits. Healthy eating practices will aid university students in preventing illnesses connected to nutrition as well as enhancing their immune systems and nutritional well-being both during and post-pandemic. In light of these results, suggestions and implications for nutritional advice and education were explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeshan Ali
- College of Food Science and Engineering, Bohai University, Jinzhou, China
| | - Lienda Bashier Eltayeb
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Prince Sattam Ibn Abdelaziz University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sndos Z.A. Fattiny
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Iftikhar Younis Mallhi
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Farah Javed
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Ali Abdullah Alyousef
- Department of Clinical Nutrition, Mental Hospital Al-Ahsa, Minister of Health, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia
| | - Qandeel Ijaz
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Shoaib Younas
- Department of Food Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Ishrat Khan
- Department of Biotechnology, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Zahra Batool
- Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University, Sahiwal, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Ahmad
- Department of SST, Information Security, University of Management & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
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