Dietary habits and exercise practices among the students of a Saudi Teachers' Training College

OBJECTIVE: To assess the dietary habits and exercise practices among Saudi male students of a Teacher's Training College.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2005/2006 in Abha, Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study sample was drawn using the systematic random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection.

RESULTS: Out of a total sample of 500 students, 456 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 91.2%. Approximately 10% of the students reported some type of organic disease, while psychiatric disorders were reported by 4.6% of the students. Nearly half of the students had a body mass index of more than 25 kg/m2. Practice of exercise was not prevalent in 14% of the students, while 69.3% were engaged in exercise only twice per month. Half of the students ate lunch and dinner, while snacks after lunch was taken by 76.1% of them. Addition of salt 55.5%, consumption of ghee 91.4%, and watching television while eating 85.3% was noted among the students. Breakfast was the most commonly missed meal. Approximately 11.4% students did not take vegetable and 28.9% did not take fish at all while softdrinks were consumed by more than 85% of the students ranging from 1-4 times to more than 7 times per week.

CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to assess barriers to the healthy life style and to design an effective intervention program to improve the lifestyle of the future teachers.