Juliana Norsham, Teng Nur Islami Mohd Fahmi, Hairudin Khairunnisa Fazira, Wan Abdul Fatah Wan Asma, Das Srijit
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, Malaysia.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Front Nutr. 2023 Feb 2;10:1079069. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1079069. eCollection 2023.
Students in colleges are exposed to unhealthy lifestyles and poor dietary choices. They are at risk of being overweight, skipping meals, and developing eating disorders. However, there is a paucity of information on their chrononutrition behavior, which is very important, especially concerning the timing of food consumption across the day. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate chrononutrition behavior and its potential association with body weight status among college students in Malaysia.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 409 college students aged above 18 in Malaysia. The chrononutrition behavior was assessed using the validated Chrononutrition Profile Questionnaire (CP-Q). The questionnaire was distributed using an online platform. Participants self-reported their body weight and height, and the Body Mass Index (BMI) was computed. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software.
A total of 409 participants were recruited, with a mean age of 21.5 ± 2.2 years. The prevalence of underweight, normal, and overweight was 24.7, 49.4, and 25.9%, respectively. The chrononutrition behavior revealed that participants ate breakfast about four times/week (mean 4.27 ± 2.43 days), and only 135 (33.0%) consumed breakfast daily. The largest meal consumed was during lunch (75.8%), and the mean of snacking after the last meal was 3.23 ± 2.01 days. The prevalence of night eating was low, and most participants (70.9) did not wake up at night to eat. The frequency, however, was significantly higher in the underweight group compared to the normal weight group ( < 0.05). We observed a significant association between BMI and eating window, evening latency, evening eating, and night eating. It was found that the underweight had a poor eating window ( < 0.01), poor evening latency ( < 0.01), poor evening eating ( < 0.01), and poor night eating ( < 0.05) compared to those with normal and overweight BMI groups. In contrast to predictions, poor chrononutrition behavior was more likely to predict being underweight compared to normal ( < 0.05).
Underweight young adults are more likely to have poor chrononutrition behavior. The results of the present study suggest that future nutrition education should also focus on the chrononutrition behavior of college students.
大学生面临着不健康的生活方式和不良的饮食选择。他们有超重、不吃正餐和患上饮食失调症的风险。然而，关于他们的时间营养学行为的信息却很少，而这一点非常重要，尤其是涉及一天中食物摄入的时间安排。因此，本研究旨在调查马来西亚大学生的时间营养学行为及其与体重状况的潜在关联。
这项横断面研究针对马来西亚409名18岁以上的大学生进行。使用经过验证的时间营养概况问卷（CP-Q）评估时间营养学行为。问卷通过在线平台分发。参与者自行报告他们的体重和身高，并计算体重指数（BMI）。数据使用SPSS软件进行分析。
共招募了409名参与者，平均年龄为21.5±2.2岁。体重过轻、正常和超重的患病率分别为24.7%、49.4%和25.9%。时间营养学行为显示，参与者每周吃早餐约四次（平均4.27±2.43天），只有135人（33.0%）每天吃早餐。最大的一餐是在午餐时（75.8%），最后一餐之后吃零食的平均天数为3.23±2.01天。夜间进食的患病率较低，大多数参与者（70.9%）不会在夜间醒来吃东西。然而，体重过轻组的夜间进食频率明显高于正常体重组（P<0.05）。我们观察到BMI与进食窗口、晚间延迟、晚间进食和夜间进食之间存在显著关联。结果发现，与BMI正常和超重的组相比，体重过轻的人进食窗口较差（P<0.01）、晚间延迟较差（P<0.01）、晚间进食较差（P<0.01）以及夜间进食较差（P<0.05）。与预测相反，与正常情况相比，不良的时间营养学行为更有可能预测体重过轻（P<0.05）。
体重过轻的年轻人更有可能有不良的时间营养学行为。本研究结果表明，未来的营养教育也应关注大学生的时间营养学行为。
