[Evaluating university students' dietary intake in Bogotá, Colombia].

OBJECTIVE

Determining the dietary intake of undergraduate students from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota.

METHODOLOGY

The information was collected between the second academic semester 2001 and the first one in 2004. Stratified sampling was used for determining sample size, proportional assignment being made by faculty. The sample consisted of 1,865 students, most of them being aged eighteen to twenty-five (48.3 % were female and 51.7 % male).

RESULTS

Over 60 % of the men and women participating in the study had a low calorie intake. 50% of the students had high protein intake and one-third had low or very low protein intake. Six out of 10 students had low and very low fat intake and 7 out of 10 had low carbohydrate intake. Iron and calcium intake was inadequate in more than 50 % of the sample and vitamin A intake was inadequate in nearly 80 % of the students.

DISCUSSION

The results of food intake in adult undergraduate Universidad Nacional de Colombia students suggested inadequate food quality and insufficient intake, thereby leading to an imbalanced diet. This situation was caused by many reasons which could be deduce from the study, such as bad nutritional habits (for example going without food), adverse economic and social factors, especially in cases in which students were living by themselves or living with different people apart from their families.