ABSTRACT

This study focused on food consumption pattern and anthropometric status of female students in MOUAU in this covid -19 pandemic. Primary data was used to generate the result for this study through the use of a well- structured questionnaire which was distributed to the respondents.

The result from this study revealed that about 36.3% of the respondents said that their siblings cooked their food in this covid 19 pandemic. Few of the respondents said that they cook the food by themselves. Eighteen point seven percent (18.7%) of the respondent reported that they buy cooked food. While 33.1% of the respondents agreed that it was their house help that cooks their food during covid 19 pandemic, High percentage (49.8%) of the respondents said that they eat twice in a day. Few (7.2%) of the respondents said that they eat once in a day. while 43% of the respondents said that they eat thrice in a day. High percentage (50.2%) of the respondent said that they skip meals while 49% of the respondents said that they do not skip meal. Meanwhile, minority (24.7%) of the respondents skip dinner while 37.5% of the respondents skipped lunch, More than half (51.1%) of the respondents said that they skip meal because food is  not available, 16.3% of the respondents said that they skipped meal because they cannot afford it. Few (8.8%) of the respondents said that they skip meal because of fasting or religious reasons. Fifteen percent (15%) of the respondents said that they skipped meal because they don’t normally feel hungry. More than half (58.6%) of the respondents said that they ate in-between meals. also, predominant (40.6%) number said that they ate biscuits in between meal.  Most of the respondents (43.4%) takes bread twice daily. Few (1.6%) takes bread once daily. While 11.6%, takes it thrice weekly. 14.7% takes it once in a month while 7.6% takes bread twice in a monthly. Finally, 21.1% said they take bread only on occasional base. Predominant number (37.5%) of the respondents said that they take pap once in a month. Few (5.6%) of the respondents take it daily. 37.5% of the respondents agreed that they take pap twice weekly, while 11.6% of the respondents takes it thrice weekly. The study also revealed that 14.7% of the respondents takes pap once in a month while 13.5% takes pap twice in a month. Also, 10.4% of the respondents takes occasionally, while 6.8% of the respondents said they never take pap because it is easy to make and always available for students. The result between the BMI for age revealed that 23 (9.16%) were obese, 45 (17.92%) were overweight. 32 (12.75%) of the respondents were at risk, while majority 132 (52.59%) were normal, 8(3.19%) were underweight while 11(4.38%) were severally underweight. This study therefore recommends increased awareness through other sources in order to encourage the students on the importance of adopting the appropriate food consumption pattern for healthy living.