University students (297 males, 21.5 years old; 233 females, 20.5 years old) were asked to answer a questionnaire on food and health.
1) Forty-nine percent of males and 61% of females considered their food intake sufficient to maintain their health while 34% of males and 19% of females considered it insufficient (difference between sex,
p<0.01). As for their food intake requirements, 37% of males and 64% of females answered that they had knowledge about the requirements while 26% of males and 4% of females answered that they did not (difference between sex,
p<0.01).
2) Significant correlation was found between the subjective evaluation of food intake and their idea of sufficiency to maintain health for males for seven groups (excluding the meat group) (
p<0.05) and for females for four food groups (cereals, pulses, vegetables and algae) (
p<0.01). Among males, there was a correlation between awareness of food intake requirements and the food intake volumes for four food groups (cereals, pulses, meat and algae) (
p<0.05).
3) There were more males (63%) than females (27%) who had regular bowel movements every day, while 17% of males and 19% of females had bowel movements less than three times a week, showing a significant difference between sex (
p<0.001). Both males (84%) and females (96%) tended to consider that constipation can affect their health while more males with irregular bowel movements answered that they did not agree with this statement (difference between sex;
p<0.001).
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