ABSTRACT

The study was carried out among undergraduate students in University of Nigeria, Enugu campus and Imo State University, Owerri, to assess their food and nutrition security status and dietary diversity score. A total of 398 students (comprising 196 males and 202 females) were selected using random sampling technique. Data on socio economic characteristics, dietary habits, food security module and dietary diversity were collected using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of weight, height, hip and waist circumferences were taken using standard procedures. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation with SPSS version 20.0. Some (41.2%) of the students were in 400 level and 67.6% of them were between the ages of 21 and 25 years. Meal skipping (50.3%) especially breakfast and consumption of snacks (100%) were common among the students. Consumption of alcoholic beverages was also common (44.2%) among the students. About 35.7% of the students were food insecure without hunger where as 35.2% were food insecure with moderate hunger. Male students were more food insecure with moderate hunger (43.4%) compared to the females (27.2%) (p<0,05). Mean food security score was 4.84±2.97 for males and 4.97±2.59 for females indicating that all the students were food insecure without hunger. Dietary diversity revealed, cereals had the highest mean dietary diversity of 0.88±0.31 and 0.83±0.33,followed by root and tubers 0.71±0.42 and 0.71±0.39, while fish and other sea foods had the least mean scores for males and females, respectively (p<0.05). The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the students was 38.7% and 3.3%, respectively. More females were at risk of cardiovascular disease based on their waist hip ratio (53.5%) compared to the males (3.1%).The dietary diversity score and food security status of the students were low. Therefore, the dietary diversity score and nutrient intake must be improved.