Dietary intake and body composition of female students in relation with their dieting practices and residential status.

PURPOSE To examine association of residential conditions and past dieting with current dietary intake and body composition of female pharmacy students. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS The 24-hour recall method was used to evaluate dietary intake of 47 female students. Height, weight and four skinfold thickness were measured to assess body composition. In addition, survey included lifestyle questionnaire to obtain information on type of residence place in time of academic year and about diets continued at least by two weeks. The Mann Whitney U-test and correlation analysis were used. RESULTS Current energy and nutrient intake were related to dieting history. Female students with dieting history and living with their parents had significantly lower (p < or = 0.05) intake of energy (61.9% RDI), carbohydrate (67.5% RDI), fat (58.7% RDI), phosphorus (111.7% RDI), magnesium (73.4% RDI) and thiamin (72.3% RDI) than those that have never dieted. A significant association (p < or = 0.05) between past dieting and current body composition was also found. Compared to students who had never used diets and reside with their parents, students with past dieting behavior indicated significantly greater (p < or = 0.05) indices as BMI and % FM. CONCLUSIONS The high prevalence of non-rationale dieting among young women and dietary inadequacy associated with unhealthy nutritional behavior suggested that more appropriate and systematic educational intervention is needed in this population.