Effect of Nutrition Education on the Eating Habits of Undergraduates in South-West, Nigeria

To assess the effect of nutrition education on the eating habits that may predispose undergraduates to cancer, a quasi-experimental study was carried out in a representative sample of undergraduates aged 16 to 25 years in two Universities in South-west Nigeria. A sample of 436 participants (males and females) was randomly selected from both universities (1 control group; 1 experimental group). Participants eating habits was assessed before nutrition education intervention by having a focussed group discussion and responding to a 19-item self-developed food frequency scale (pretest). Nutrition education intervention was given to the experimental group for 8 weeks and the control group had a placebo. The effect of nutrition education on eating habits was measured immediately and 8 weeks after intervention using the pretest scale (posttest). Data analysis was employed using SPSS version 15; independent t-test, ANCOVA, using the pretest as the covariate to measure the effect of the intervention. Nutrition education significantly affected the eating habits of the participants (p<0.05). The experimental group performed better by contributing a higher mean score of 61.48 while the control group contributed a mean score of 56.64. The level of study significantly affected the eating habits of the participants with students in lower level of study performing better (p<0.05). Nutrition education positively modulated the eating habits of the participants. More students need to be exposed to nutrition education on eating habits because it appears to be a potent tool in forestalling the harmful effects of poor eating habits especially cancer.