Dietary habits and Body Mass Index between athletes and nonathletes of UiTM

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the dietary habits and Body Mass Index (BMI) between student-athletes and non-student athletes in UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA), as well as to study the relationship between their dietary habits and BMI. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions of the individual regarding what foods they eat, while BMI is one of the widely used tools to identify the nutritional status of the individual. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Respondents’ body weight and height were self-measured, and respondents provide the data in the demographic section. Dietary habits questionnaire comprised of 18 questions, including the frequency of food intake from every section of the food pyramid, snack, fast food, vitamin and mineral supplements, breakfast, beverages intake and meal skipping. The result showed the mean dietary habits score of student-athletes were significantly (p <0.01) higher than non-student athletes. This could indicate the awareness of the student-athlete to practice a good dietary habit for them to enhance their sports performance. Regarding BMI, majority of the respondents from both student-athletes (62%) and non-student athletes (70%) were in the normal weight BMI category, and no significant difference was found in both groups. In addition, present study found no significant relationship between dietary habits and BMI for both student-athletes (r-value = – 0.093, p = 0.359) and non-student athletes’ (r-value = – 0.037, p = 0.713) groups, showing that dietary habits of the respondents does not correlate with their BMI. Although no significant association were found, normal BMI category and appropriate dietary habits are essential to be practised by everyone irrespective athletes or nonathletes, and this is to ensure a healthy lifestyle and reducing the risk of getting the non-communicable disease.