A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Health Systems Management (MHSM) of Mzumbe University.
Background: Obesity is a current public health concern even in developing countries being closely linked with diet related NCDs. Previous studies have demonstrated that university students are well known to have unhealthy dietary habits and gain body weight more rapidly than the general population.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess variations in eating habits and BMI across socio-demographic factors and; to determine the associations between socio-demographic factors, eating habits and BMI among undergraduate students.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Mzumbe University and Jordan University College. Simple and Cluster random sampling were used to select students from the two universities and sample size of 200 students was used in this study. Questionnaire and Anthropometric measurements were used during data collection. Data were analysed using computer software called SPSS version 16.0. Frequencies, means, One-way ANOVA and Multiple linear regressions were used during data analysis.
Results: The findings showed no statistical relationship between eating habits and socio-demographic characteristics (P>0.05). Further, BMI differed significantly with age, gender and place of origin (p<0.05). This study also found significant associations between mean BMI and female gender, age and place of origin (p<0.05). The results showed that each additional year of age was significantly associated with a 0.495 unit increase in BMI and female respondents were 2.168 higher BMI than males. In addition, respondents from rural had significant lower BMI by 1.59 as compared to respondents from urban.
Conclusion: The study concluded that undergraduate students exhibit similar eating patterns despite their socio-demographic characteristics. The study also concluded that age, gender and place of origin relate with student’s BMI significantly. The study recommend that public health planners and implementers should consider age, gender, place of origin as well as eating habit in the fight for the problem of obesity among undergraduate students.