Research Article

Assessment of Food Habits, Health Status and Healthy Lifestyle Perceptions of University Sportsman in Bangladesh: A Cross Sectional Study

Karmakar Palash, Hossen Shafiul*, Das Abhijit and Mosharraf Sakib

Department of Pharmacy, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh

Submission: June 06, 2019; Published: October 03, 2019

*Corresponding author: Hossen Shafiul, Department of Pharmacy, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh

How to cite this article: Karmakar Palash, Hossen Shafiul, Das Abhijit, Mosharraf Sakib. Assessment of Food Habits, Health Status and Healthy Lifestyle Perceptions of University Sportsman in Bangladesh: A Cross Sectional Study. Nutri Food Sci Int J. 2019. 9(3): 555763 DOI:10.19080/NFSIJ.2019.09.555763.

Abstract

This cross-sectional study involving 327 university sportsman aged 18-26 years was undertaken to evaluate the food habits, health conditions and healthy lifestyle perceptions of University Sportsman in Bangladesh. Majority of sportsman ate meals and breakfast regularly and preferred to take meat and fast food than fruits and vegetables. Males had a lower consumption of vegetables, fast food and meat whilst they had a higher intake of soft drinks, tea or coffee. Though females were more conscious about their balance nutrition and obesity, they were more anxious (OR = 1.35) but less depressed (OR = 0.83) as well as felt more physical health problems such as fever (OR = 3.83), respiratory (OR = 1.80) and GIT problems (OR = 1.73) than males. Overweight sportsman reported the highest consumption of fast food (73.17%), meat (80.49%) and soft drinks (82.93%) but the lowest consumption of vegetables (31.71%). Association between food habits and major health problems, such as depression, GIT problems and overweight were also observed. As the better dietary habit leads to the better health consequently better performance, it is very important to provide proper knowledge about nutritious foods and healthy lifestyle to the sportsman.

Keywords: Food habit; Health condition; Overweight; Depression; University sportsman; Bangladesh

Introduction

Sports and recreation are very important in motor learning and social skills and in the development of creativity [1]. Sports such as basketball, tennis, racquetball, weight-lifting and swimming may also help the people to improve and maintain physical as well as mental health [2].Playing sports can make a man healthier and happier because of the physical activity involved that can effectively contribute to the improvement of physical fitness [3,4]. Researchers noted the positive effects of physical activity on mental health, such as reduction of anxiety and depression levels [5].

Nutritious food habit is regarded as a balanced consumption of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water which are essential nutrients to meet the energy needs for vital activities in our body. It also helps us to protect health, make physical growth and development possible [6]. But unhealthy dietary habits do not only affect the performance in the competition but also provides a negative impact on their overall health [7]. To avoid unhealthy food and select healthy food for consumption, nutrition knowledge is necessary [8]. On the other hand, entering university is an important time in the life of an individual as this increases the responsibility for the selection of food and a healthy lifestyle [9].

Studies show that food habits and sport are very significant for a healthy life. Various factors such as person-based physiological and psychological factors, nutrition, health, environmental factors and sport-related characteristics play a role in obtaining high sports performance. On the contrary, it is difficult to mention which factor is more effective in maximum performance. However, there is no doubt that expecting high performance from a sportsman who does not eat regularly which is unhealthy is impossible [10,11]. Regular and balanced food habits are significant for sportsmen in many ways. Many situations such as increasing performance, controlling loss of weight and overweight gain, preventing discomfort given by electrolyte losses in the body, regular functioning of the digestive system, renewing energy sources in the recovery process which affect sportsmen directly or indirectly are provided with balanced nutrition [12]. But no such study found that ever conducted among Bangladeshi university sportsman to assess their food habits, health status and perception of their healthy lifestyle. Therefore, this study was undertaken to fill up the gap. This may also help to assist Exercise and Sports science department to plan health programs or dietary courses in future to improve food habits and sports performances of athletes.

Methods

Study Design and Sampling

For this population based cross-sectional study, respondents were selected from six reputed public universities namely National University, University of Dhaka, Jangirnagar University, University of Chittagong, Noakhali Science and Technology University and Comill University during December 2017 to March 2018. A simple random sampling technique was used for the selection of study participants. The total participants were 327 aged 18-26 years including first to fourth year undergraduate students where 292 participants were male and 35 were female. The participants were selectively assigned to read about the topic. To reduce the risk of biasness, study participants were identified and listed with the help of student’s ID card. Students having exercise or sports or both at least 20-30 minutes per day and 2-3 days per week during the last two months prior to the study started were selected. All the participants willingly joined in this study providing written consent. The study protocol was approved by the department of pharmacy of Noakhali Science and Technology University.

Study Questionnaire

The questionnaire was adopted from formerly published studies [13,14]and some questions were modified and developed by our research team. The questionnaire was divided into six portions including demographic information, sports and exercise, food habit, quality of life, healthy lifestyle and medication taking attitudes.

Data collection

The procedure of data collection was segmented into three steps. The first step was to fill up the questionnaire including socio-demographic and anthropometric information by the study subjects. The second phase was to focus on group discussion about the study protocol and the final step was to cross-check interviews with the key informants. The questionnaires were distributed to selected students together with a written consent form that explained the purpose of the research with the assurance of their confidentiality. The students were told that their participation was anonymous and entirely voluntary and there was no reward for taking part. They were invited to complete the questionnaire. We were present on hand to answer questions or clarify any doubts that they might have. All filled questionnaires were collected by us one by one.

Statistical analysis

All data obtained were entered into a Microsoft Office Excel 2010 spreadsheet and final analysis was done by using SPSS software version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL., USA). The p values were calculated by chi-square test. An alpha level of 0.05 or less was considered as significant at 95% Confidence level. Microsoft Office Excel 2010 program was used for chart, graph, and diagram preparation.

Results

Socio-Demographic Profile

(Table 1) showed that 89.30% of the respondents were male while female comprised of 10.70% of respondents. The highest number of sportsmen were in the age group of 21-23 years with a percentage of 57.49%, while the lowest number of sportsmen were in the age group of 18-20 years with a percentage of 18.65%. Rest 23.85% of the sportsman were in the age group of 24-26 years. Among the respondents, 21.71% sportsman were from the 1st year, 25.08% from the 2nd year, 29.97% from the 3rd year, and 23.24% of respondents were from the final year respectively.

Food Habits

Food habits of the respondents were compared by gender presented in (Table 2). 91.45% of female athletes were reported to be eating meal regularly (OR = 1.04; CI = 0.34-3.18) compared to 91.78% of male (OR = 1.00; CI = 0.87-1.14). Female students showed better eating habits in terms of breakfast (80.00%; OR = 0.77; CI = 0.35-1.70) and diner (85.71%; OR= 1.02; CI = 0.42- 2.49) taking attitude in contrast to male students (75.00%; OR = 1.03; CI = 0.95-1.12 and 85.96%; OR = 1.00; CI = 0.90-1.11 respectively). The tabulated results showed that eating fast food, fish, meat and vegetables were more common among female (74.29%, 91.43%, 82.86% and 91.43% respectively) in comparison to male participants (39.04%, 81.16%, 76.71% and 84.56%). On the contrary, in case of fruits, soft drinks, tea or coffee and traditional food the greater percentage of male (47.95%, 51.71%, 80.14% and 70.89% respectively) than female (45.71%, 48.57%, 65.71% and 65.71%) reported that they had those foods regularly. Whereas, smoking, narcotics and alcohol consumption rate were very rare among female students. Our study reported that among male students, 14.38% did smoke in contrast to only 4.79% were engaged in taking narcotics like products. Furthermore, only 1.71% male students were found to drink alcohol related drinks or beverages.

(Table 3) demonstrated the difference of frequency of taking food between male and female sportsman. Comparison of having fast food, tea or coffee and vegetables between genders were statistically significant (p = .000, p = 0.036 and p = .043 respectively). Females were more prone to take fast food than males, but males were more like to take tea or coffee. Our findings also reported that about 31.19% (42.85% female and 29.79% male) of the sportsman had fast food at sometimes, while about 40.06% (22.85% female and 42.12% male) had it at a few times per week. The consumption rate of fruits at a few times or often was more among females than males (54.29% vs. 45.55% or 17.14% vs. 8.56% respectively). The greater percentage of female participants than male (37.14% vs 26.37%) took fish always while greater percentage of male than female (16.10% vs 14.29%) reported they liked to take meat always. On the other hand, the higher percentage of male participants than female (23.97% vs 20.00%) liked to take fish sometimes while larger percentage of female than male (45.71% vs 34.25%) reported they wished to take meat sometimes in their daily life. Though the highest percentage of sportsman 39.76% (female 25.71% and male 41.44%) felt very happy to take tea or coffee always, the lowest number of respondents 7.03% (7.88% male but no percentage of female) liked to drink soft drinks always. The highest number of both males (34.93%) and females (42.86%) reported that they liked to take vegetables often and the lowest number of respondents (1.03% male but no percentage of female) reported they never take vegetables in their daily life.

Health Status

The health status of respondents was illustrated by gender in (Table 4). Our study found that male lead a better life than female. Female were more anxious (42.86%; OR = 1.35; CI = 0.72-2.53) in contrast to male (34.93%; OR = 0.96; CI = 0.89-1.05) but less depressed than male athletes (34.29%; OR = 0.83; CI = 0.43-1.61 and 39.04%; OR = 1.02; CI = 0.95- 1.10 respectively). Respiratory problems, GIT problems and fever were more common among female respondents than male (51.43%; OR = 1.80; CI = 0.97-3.36 vs 35.27%; OR = 0.93; CI = 0.85-1.01, 51.43%; OR = 1.73; CI = 0.93-3.24 vs 36.30%; OR = 0.93; CI = 0.86-1.01, 60.00%; OR = 3.83; CI = 2.04-7.21 vs 24.32%; OR = 0.82; CI = 0.73-0.92 respectively). Even more female participants (17.14%) rated their BMI level at overweight than male (11.99%). As a result, female faced more difficulty in their daily life than male (40.00%; OR = 1.47; CI = 0.78-2.77 vs 30.14%; OR = 0.95; CI = 0.87-1.04). Everyone may feel difficulty in their daily life due to several physical or mental problems (Figure 1). narrated the feeling of difficulty level of sportsman in their daily life due to having problems mentioned in (Table 4). Among all the sportsman who turned difficulty in daily life 29.05% (27.74% male and 40.00% female) of them faced somewhat difficult and 2.14% (2.40% male but no percentage in female) had very difficult but no cases rated extremely difficult.

Food Habits verses Major Health Problems

(Table 5) demonstrated the association of occurring depression, GIT problems and Abnormal BMI with major food habits, such as fast food, fish, meat, soft drinks and vegetables. Our study found that higher percentage of fast food, meat and soft drinks lover rated in all mentioned problems. Respondents with abnormal BMI reported the highest percentage in taking soft drinks (82.93%). A huge percentage, the greater percentage among all groups, of sportsman with abnormal BMI was also very fond of taking fast food (73.17%) and meat (80.49%). Consumption of fast food and meat were very common among depressed respondents (55.56% and 63.49% respectively) as well as respondents facing GIT problems (54.84% and 68.55%). But very lower consumption rate of vegetables was observed among all depressed (41.27%), GIT problems (36.29%) and abnormal BMI (31.71%) participants. So, by going through the tabulated percentage, it is clear that higher consumption of fast food, meat and soft drinks were mainly associated with abnormal BMI problems. Lower vegetables consumption rate might also be responsible for GIT problems.

Healthy Lifestyle Perceptions

Sportsman’s perception about healthy lifestyle is tabulated in (Table 6). The perception about healthy lifestyle was almost similar between male and female. The study results revealed that there is no significant difference in perception between male and female students about a balanced nutrition (χ2 = 3.6, p = .058). Similar type of non-significant result was also observed for the answers regarding to get rid of fat (χ2 = 0.35, p = .694), consciousness level about obesity (χ2 = 0.77, p = .380), the days of taking part in sports per week (χ2 = 1.00, p = .607) and hours of sleeping per day (χ2 = 1.4, p = .498).

Discussion

Students generally prefer fast food and ready food items in different restaurants due to its deliciousness, accessibility and expediency. In view of eating habits, Glore SR et al. conducted a study among university students that found student’s diet was high in fat but low in fruits as well as vegetables [15] and the present study reported the similar result in case of university sportsmen. In the current study, the obtained data of dietary habits revealed that the majority of players ate meals regularly and breakfast daily. The percentage of taking daily breakfast was higher in the female athletes compared to male. Previous studies also found almost same findings among general students. Studies conducted among university students in Lebanon [16] reported that majority of the students (61.4%) ate regular meals. Another study undertaken among college athletes of USA [17] also found that females practiced better dietary habits than males that supported the findings of our present study. Alcohol consumption and smoking might be rare in female sportsmen, but males were familiar with these habits. Our study found a greater percentage of smoker than the findings (2.5%) of a study conducted among 2443 students from 13 public and private schools in Lebanon [18].

Exercise and sports reduce anxiety, depression, obesity and number of sick days by improving immune system [19]. Arya G et al., Armstrong S et al. and Craft LL et al. found that athletes have been shown to have decreased levels of social anxiety and depressive symptoms that was appreciated by our present study [20-22]. Athletic participation on an intercollegiate sports team is directly related to lower levels of depression [23]. The level of attacking anxiety and depression might be difference between male and female. A study was conveyed in 1999 demonstrated significant higher anxiety and depression scores for female compared to male adolescents [24]. Our study supported their findings in case of anxiety but went to opposite in case of depression where our study showed that males felt more depression than females. Another study in 2006 observed higher anxiety scores for females but no sex differences in depression scores but present study reported sex differences in depression [25]. In addition, Chan YF et al. reported significantly higher anxiety scores for female compared to male but higher depression scores for male compared to female was observed in Hong Kong [26]. These were of interest for results of the present study, although not significant similar results were found.

Our study reported more than 6% of sportsmen were underweight and around 1% obese that was almost similar to another study conducted in Greece, Serbia and Turkey among athletes and other groups [27].But the present study had the larger overweight respondents compare to 20.4% overweight which was found by Nudri WD et al. [28] The prevalence of overweight among female players were also lower than previous findings in adult volleyball players (12.3%) [29]. Previous study also reported athletes had the least physical problems which were similar to the results of the present study. Participation on sports activities caused less respiratory, cardiovascular or others physical illness [30].

Conclusion and Recommendations

To conclude, majority of students eat meals regularly and breakfast daily. They prefer to take meat and fast food than fruits, vegetables. In comparison to females, male participants had significantly lower consumption of vegetables, fast food and meat whilst they had a higher intake of soft drinks, tea or coffee and traditional food. Though Females were more conscious about their balance nutrition and obesity, their quality of life was not as good as male. But the overall health status of athlete was good. Our study recommends that education about nutrition is a key factor for athletes and it needs to play a continual role in their lives. Therefore, proper nutrition knowledge can lead to healthier lifestyles. Coaches, parents, and athletic trainers need to have knowledge about nutrition because athletes tend to ask people to whom they are most comfortable with. Professionals can help athletes recognize the role of nutrition in sports and help them choose the most appropriate foods and fluids to attain peak performance and improve health status.

Limitations

The study had some limitations as we faced some complications during the survey. Firstly, we had covered only six universities due to the shortage of time for the research work. So, the represented data does not give the whole scenario of all the athlete students of the country. If we had conducted the study in more universities, we would have got a more extensive scenario on the assessment of dietary habits, health status and healthy lifestyle perceptions. Secondly, students were less familiar with some terminologies and complications arose regarding understanding the questionnaire. They needed further explanation. Thirdly, all universities were far away due to which it was a little bit difficult to travel these long distances. Fourthly, many students were busy with their examinations and lab work. So, collecting data from them was slightly difficult. It was also difficult to find out female athletes due to females having less eagerness to participate in sports or exercise. Finally, social desirability bias may have impacted the responses since the interviews were done in person.

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the management and students of participated institutions for their cordial help. Authors also would like to thank all the volunteer students and honorable chairman of the Department of Pharmacy of Noakhali Science and Technology University for their warm support to this research work.

Funding

This research work was carried out by the author in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons). Authors did not receive any funding for conducting the research work.

Competing interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

1. Gleave J, Cole Hamilton I (2012) A literature review on the effects of a lack of play on children’s lives. England: Play England.
2. Graham G, Holt SA, Parker M (2001) Children moving: A reflective approach to teaching physical education, Mayfield Publishing Company, CA, USA.
3. Rozek-Piechura K, Ignasiak Z, Slawinska T, Piechura J, Ignasiak T (2014) Respiratory function, physical activity and body composition in adult rural population. Ann Agric Environ Med 21(2): 369-374.
4. Norton K, Norton L, Lewis N (2016) Effects of Short-Term Physical Activity Interventions on Simple and Choice Response Times. BioMed research international pp8.
5. Dziubek W, Kowalska J, Kusztal M, Rogowski Ł, Gołębiowski T, et al. (2016) The Level of Anxiety and Depression in Dialysis Patients Undertaking Regular Physical Exercise Training - a Preliminary Study. Kidney Blood Press Res 41(1): 86-98.
6. Zorba E, Mollaoğulları H, Erdemir İ (2000) Effects of bee-pollen elevation on maximal oxygen consumption, blood parameters and recovery level of elite endurance athletes. University of Mugla.
7. Rosenbloom CA, Jonnalagadda SS, Skinner R (2002) Nutrition Knowledge of Collegiate Athletes in a Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association Institution. J Am Diet Assoc 102(3): 418-420.
8. Wardle J, Parmenter K, Waller J (2000) Nutrition knowledge and food intake. Appetite 34(3): 269-275.
9. Colić Barić I, Šatalić Z, Lukešić Ž (2003) Nutritive value of meals, dietary habits and nutritive status in Croatian university students according to gender. Int J Food Sci Nutr54(6): 473-484.
10. Cengiz ŞŞ, Göktepe M, Bezci Ş, Badau D (2016) Study of nutrition habits and information levels of sportsmen interested in fighting sports. Palestrica of the Third Millennium Civilization & Sport 17(2): 127-133.
11. Alpar R, Ersoy G, Karagül A. Yüzücü beslenmesi el kitabı. GSGM Yayın. 1994:69-84.
12. süel E, Şahin İ, karakaya MA, savucu Y (2006) Elit seviyedeki basketbolcuların beslenme bilgi ve alışkanlıkları. Fırat Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Tıp Dergisi 20(4): 271-275.
13. Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B (2006) A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Arch Intern Med166(10): 1092-1097.
14. Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW (2001) The PHQ-9: Validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 16(9): 606-613.
15. Glore SR, Walker C, Chandler A (1993) Brief communication: dietary habits of first-year medical students as determined by computer software analysis of three-day food records. J Am Coll Nutr 12(5): 517-520.
16. Yahia N, Achkar A, Abdallah A, Rizk S (2008) Eating habits and obesity among Lebanese university students. Nutr J 7: 32.
17. Paugh SL (2005) Dietary habits and nutritional knowledge of college athletes. Bachelor's Thesis, Faculty of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Pennsylvania, California, USA.
18. Tamim H, Al-Sahab B, Akkary G, Ghanem M, Tamim N, et al. (2007) Cigarette and nargileh smoking practices among school students in Beirut, Lebanon. Am J Health Behav 31(1): 56-63.
19. Nieman DC, Pedersen BK (1999) Exercise and immune function. Sports Med 27(2): 73-80.
20. Arya G, Mishra S (2013) Effects of Junk Food and Beverages on Adolescents Health-A review Article. IOSR-JNHS 1(6): 26-32.
21. Armstrong S, Oomen-Early J (2009) Social connectedness, self-esteem, and depression symptomatology among collegiate athletes versus nonathletes. J Am Coll Health 57(5): 521-526.
22. Craft LL, Freund KM, Culpepper L, Perna FM (2007) Intervention study of exercise for depressive symptoms in women. J Womens Health (Larchmt)16(10): 1499-1509.
23. Proctor SL, Boan-Lenzo C (2010) Prevalence of depressive symptoms in male intercollegiate student-athletes and nonathletes. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology4(3): 204-220.
24. White D, Leach C, Sims R, Atkinson M, Cottrell D (1999). Validation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for use with adolescents. Br J Psychiatry175: 452-454.
25. Jörngården A, Wettergen L, von Essen L (2006) Measuring health-related quality of life in adolescents and young adults: Swedish normative data for the SF-36 and the HADS, and the influence of age, gender, and method of administration. Health Qual Life Outcomes 4: 91-91.
26. Chan YF, Leung DY, Fong DY, Leung CM, Lee AM (2010) Psychometric evaluation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in a large community sample of adolescents in Hong Kong. Qual Life Res19(6): 865-873.
27. Konstandinidis T, MariaBougoulia CT, Colak R Krassas GE, Kelestimur F, (2003) Self-reported prevalence of obesity among 20,329 adults from large territories of Greece, Serbia and Turkey. Hormones 2(1): 49-54.
28. Nudri WD, Manan WM, Rusli AM (2009) Body mass index and body fat status of men involved in sports, exercise, and sedentary activites. Malays J Med Sci16(2): 21-26.
29. Nikolaidis PT (2013) Body mass index and body fat percentage are associated with decreased physical fitness in adolescent and adult female volleyball players. Journal of research in medical sciences: the official J Res Med Sci 18(1): 22-26.
30. Motallebi M S L, Noorbakhsh M (2010) Study the effect of participation in physical activity on mental health. British Journal of Sports Medicine 44(1): i60-i60.