Publication: Gender differences in dietary habits, lifestyle practices and nutritional status of university students
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2025-06
Authors
Azlili, Nurul Shafiza
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Gender differences in dietary habits, lifestyle practices, and nutritional status among university students remain inconsistent across populations, yet understanding these differences is important for effective health promotion. This cross-sectional study examined associations between gender and fruit intake, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) among university students. The results indicated no significant association between gender and fruit intake (p = 0.509), with a slightly higher proportion of males (66.7%) reporting fruit consumption compared to females (59.5%), suggesting that fruit intake was relatively similar across genders, consistent with previous findings in Turkey (Çapar et al., 2024). In contrast, lifestyle practices differed significantly by gender (p = 0.009), with a larger proportion of females (81.0%) classified as sedentary compared to males (55.6%), and more males reporting moderate physical activity (44.4%) than females (19.0%), aligning with prior research indicating higher physical activity levels among male university students (Schmidt et al., 2022; Espada et al., 2023). Nutritional status, assessed via BMI, showed no significant gender differences (p = 0.706), although males had a slightly higher prevalence of obesity and females a higher prevalence of underweight, reflecting patterns observed in multinational university populations (Pengpid & Peltzer, 2014). These findings suggest that while gender may not strongly influence fruit intake or BMI among university students, it is associated with lifestyle behaviors, particularly physical activity Interventions to promote physical activity may need to target female students specifically, whereas dietary and nutritional strategies may benefit from a universal approach. Overall, this study highlights the nuanced role of gender in shaping health behaviors and nutritional outcomes within the university context
Description
Keywords
-