Department of Physical Education and Sport, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-601 Wroclaw, Poland.
Student Scientific Association, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-601 Wroclaw, Poland.
Nutrients. 2024 May 8;16(10):1414. doi: 10.3390/nu16101414.
Eating disorders and body image concerns are increasingly prevalent issues among young individuals, with medical students being particularly vulnerable due to heightened stress levels. This study enrolled 879 medical students to investigate these concerns. The KomPAN questionnaire was utilized to assess dietary habits and knowledge, the Body Esteem Scale (BES) to evaluate body satisfaction, and The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to identify eating disorders. A higher level of nutritional knowledge was found to be statistically significantly associated with attempts at excessive calorie restriction among women (β = 0.0864) and negatively among men (β = -0.2039). Moreover, it was negatively associated with self-control of food intake only among men (β = -0.2060). Furthermore, a higher BMI was associated with attempts of excessive calorie restriction in both women and men (β = 0.1052 and β = 0.1656, respectively) and negatively with self-control of food intake (β = -0.0813 and β = -0.1453, respectively). A higher BMI was associated with poorer body esteem across all variables in both genders, except for upper body strength among men. Nutritional knowledge did not correspond with any of these variables, while dietary quality was positively associated with physical condition in women and with physical condition, physical attractiveness, and upper body strength in men. Our study findings suggest that dietary interventions could be improved by considering gender-based behavioral differences and focusing on portion control for individuals with a higher BMI. Caution is warranted in extrapolating the results to the general population due to the specific nature of the study population.
饮食失调和身体形象问题在年轻人群中越来越普遍，医学生由于压力水平升高而特别容易受到影响。本研究招募了 879 名医学生来调查这些问题。使用 KomPAN 问卷评估饮食习惯和知识，使用身体自尊量表 (BES) 评估身体满意度，使用饮食态度测试 (EAT-26) 识别饮食失调。发现营养知识水平较高与女性（β=0.0864）过度限制卡路里摄入的尝试呈统计学显著相关，而与男性（β=-0.2039）呈负相关。此外，它仅与男性的食物摄入量自我控制呈负相关（β=-0.2060）。此外，较高的 BMI 与女性和男性过度限制卡路里摄入的尝试呈正相关（β=0.1052 和 β=0.1656），与食物摄入量自我控制呈负相关（β=-0.0813 和 β=-0.1453）。较高的 BMI 与女性和男性所有变量的身体自尊较差呈正相关，除了男性的上半身力量。营养知识与这些变量都不相关，而饮食质量与女性的身体状况以及男性的身体状况、身体吸引力和上半身力量呈正相关。我们的研究结果表明，通过考虑基于性别的行为差异并针对 BMI 较高的个体关注份量控制，可以改善饮食干预。由于研究人群的特殊性，在将结果推断至一般人群时应谨慎。
