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Factors associated with Sodium Intake among Students in Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION : Excessive sodium intake are linked to various health risks including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. However, available data pertaining to dietary sodium intake among university students is scarce. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine level of dietary sodium intake and identify its association with socio-demographic data, body weight status, dietary knowledge, dietary attitude, dietary practices and total energy intake among university students.
METHODOLOGY : A total of 120 respondents of university students were participated in this study and were recruited from convenient sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire comprising of socio-demographic characteristics, body weight status, dietary knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) and Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) were used. Height, weight and BMI of the subjects were measured.
RESULTS : Mean sodium intake of the respondents was 2371±1456 mg/day. In term of meeting dietary sodium intake recommendation (<2000mg/day), 57 respondents (47.5%) had intake within the requirement, while 63 respondents (52.5%) had excessive sodium intake. There were no significant correlations found between dietary sodium intakes with the socio-demographics characteristics, body weight status and dietary KAP among the respondents. However, the results showed a strong positive relationship between total energy intakes with dietary sodium intake among the respondents (r=0.712, p<0.000).
CONCLUSION : The high levels of sodium consumption across the university students and the absence of any detectable association of KAP levels with actual sodium consumption was a significant concern in this study thus warrants a larger scale study.
Keywords: knowledge, attitude, practices, sodium