Hábitos alimentarios y composición corporal en estudiantes de odontología de la Universidad de Cuenca en el año 2024

Abstract

In different countries research on university students has associated eating habits with body composition, showing a high percentage of overweight students, which is an important factor since overweight and obesity are associated with chronic non-communicable diseases. In addition, unhealthy eating habits have been found in university students, such as excessive consumption of high-calorie foods; and limited consumption of fruits, vegetables and legumes. Objective: To determine the relationship between dietary habits and body composition of the University of Cuenca – Dental Career students in the year 2024. Methods: Quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional analytical study, with a sample of 234 students of the said career and university. Data collection was performed by means of the Eating Habits and Behavior Survey in Higher Education (ECHAES), sociodemographic data survey and bioimpedance with the OMRON scale that analyzed the following parameters: body fat, visceral fat, skeletal muscle and BMI. The data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel and descriptive and bivariate statistics were used for the analysis in the SPSS version 28.0 statistical program. Results: Statistically significant association was found between skeletal muscle and visceral fat with sex, in addition to skeletal muscle and study cycle. Conclusion: No significant relationship was found between body composition and eating habits, nor with most of the sociodemographic variables. However, an association with sex and study cycle was observed