Body Mass Index, Eating Habits and Physical Activities of College Students at Catanduanes State University Panganiban Campus

Abstract

The transition from high school to university is a critical phase when students struggle to make healthy eating choices with adequate nutrition, affecting their academic status. This descriptive-correlational research investigated the body mass index, eating habits, and physical activities of one hundred twenty-four (124) Bachelor of Elementary Education college students at Catanduanes State University, Panganiban Campus, Catanduanes, Philippines. The researcher used the mean frequency to tabulate the result of the student鈥檚 socio-demographic profile, physical activities, and eating habits and the Pearson chi-square to determine the relationship of the variables. Analyzed data on sex revealed that the majority or 50.80% of the respondents have normal BMI, only 3 or 2.42% are obese; year level, majority or 29.03% are first year while 0.80% or 1 is irregular; family income is below Php 9,520; physical activities, majority or 54.83% 鈥渞arely鈥� exercise while only 0.81% does it 鈥渦sually鈥�; eating habits, the respondents 鈥渟eldom鈥� skip meals aside from majority 鈥渟eldom鈥� eat the aforementioned list of foods by mealtime. No correlations were established between sex, physical activities, and BMI only along variable-eating habits (Pearson chi-square 14.484, p= 0.025). Thus, healthy eating habits constitute improved food knowledge and education, meal planning, participation in food preparation, and exercise, which reinforces a higher level of physical fitness associated with an increase in academic achievement.