Modern nutrition problem of students in national economics university

This experiment aims to find out the modern nutrition problem of NEU students andgive the best advices for them to have healthy bodies and healthy minds.. To be healthy, people need the

FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION



INTERNATIONAL BACHELOR DEGREE PROGRAM

MODERN NUTRITION PROBLEM OF STUDENTS

IN NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

Tutor: Ms Le Thi Thu Mai Student: Nguyen Hanh Lien

Hanoi, April 21st, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I INTRODUCTION: 3

1 Background: 3

2 Rationale: 3

3 Purposes: 3

4 Scope: 4

5 Research questions: 4

6 Research methods: 4

6.1.Primary data: 4

6.2 Secondary data: 4

7 Literature review: 5

II MAJOR FINDING: 6

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS NUTRITION? 6

1 Macronutrients: 6

2 Micronutrients: 6

CHAPTER 2: THE NUTRITION PROBLEM AT NEU AND ITS EFECTS 7

1 NEU students’ eating habits: 7

2 NEU students and dietary: 9

CHAPTER 3: ADVICES FOR NEU STUDENTS TO HAVE HEALTHIER DIETS AND BODIES 13

1 Having a balanced diet: 13

2 Doing exercise regularly: 14

3 Doing outside activities: 15

III CONCLUSION 16

IV APPENDIX: 17

1.Questionnaire: 17

2 Tables 21

3 Charts 24

V REFERENCE LIST: 28

The nutrition problem is a serious problem in all over the world, especially inVietnam Poor nutrition destroys any nation It is the cause of many different troubles,such as being overweight, obesity, or even malnutrition

This experiment aims to find out the modern nutrition problem of NEU students andgive the best advices for them to have healthy bodies and healthy minds There were 100students took part in this survey By their answers in the questionnaires, the researchercan understand clearly their real problem of nutrition

To sum up, from this research, the author wants to point out the best methods to helpNEU students have both physical and mental wellbeing by having a balanced diet andacting regularly

I INTRODUCTION:

1 Background:

Nutrition is known as a material necessary to support life of the human beings, theanimals and the plants The human beings gain nutrition from the food in order to provideenergy to grow and do work There are 2 main categories of nutrition: the macronutrientsthat include Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats; the micronutrients such as Vitamins andMinerals The macronutrients help to build the structural material and provide the energyfor the cells and the muscles to develop Despite of not providing energy, Vitamins andMinerals have another function that is useful for the survival and the health of the body To

be healthy, people need the balanced diet that provides enough nutrients

However, in fact, the percentage of people, especially the youth who are havingnutrition problem is growing at an alarming rate It’s easy to realize that teenagers arebecoming overweight or even obese The development of the fast food industry is due to apoor diet which just can’t get enough necessary nutrients Besides, in some developingcountries, the state of malnutrition still has to be concerned Surprisingly, there are manypeople are trying to stay slim It means they really want to be thinner

At National Economics University, there are lots of students have problems with thenutrition These problems have such a big impact not only on their health but also theirstudy’s qualities

2 Rationale:

 Find out the percentage showing nutrition problem of NEU students

 Evaluate the negative effect of the poor nutrition problem on the students’ health

 Suggest possible solutions to help the students to have the healthy bodies

3 Purposes:

Obesity and malnutrition are becoming more popular Moreover, these two phenomenaare the reasons of many serious diseases As a student of National Economics University, Ihave such a good opportunity to approach the other students to conduct a survey By doingthis research, I can understand what the nutrition problem the NEU students are having: theobesity, the unfitness or the malnutrition I’ll also know why they have these affairs and

how the foods affect their health Additionally, this research shows some of the diseasespeople can get when they have nutrition problem To avoid diseases, I’ll give some advicesfor people to have healthier bodies

4 Scope:

 The specific areas: National Economic University

 Time: Every break-time in the morning and the afternoon in weekday – when I canget easy to meet NEU students

 Resource limits: 100 copies of questionnaire

5 Research questions:

 What is the real situation of diets and health of NEU students?

 What make NEU students worry about their diets?

 What are the effects of poor nutrition diet?

 Which methods do NEU students think will help them have a healthy body?

6 Research methods:

6.1 Primary data:

 Qualitative method: Use the In-depth interview method with 20 NEU students

 Quantitative method: Typical questions will be identified and combined into

questionnaires I will send 100 papers concluding those questions to 100 randomNEU students It’s difficult to collect all of the papers; therefore, I will print morethan needed The answers after that will be compared then compiled The openedquestions will help me learn about their attitudes and the other ideas behind eachanswer

6.2 Secondary data:

 Internet: I can collect the information about Nutrition, other research which hasbeen done before about the youth’s nutrition problem, or some illustrated imagesfor my presentation on it

 The channel “Everyday Health” on TV – which I can get some useful advices forhaving a healthy body.

7 Literature review:

Nutrition is one of the most important things for the Health and the Development Poornutrition is a danger of human’s health Nowadays, the world has to face up with manymistakes about nutrition, include obesity and malnutrition It’s due to a combination ofpoor diet and lack of exercise Children and teenager tent to be attracted to food that is high

in sugar and fat such as various forms of fast food They also tent to be ignorant of whatconstitutes a healthy diet Following to Dr Blankenau, J.’s research “ Nutrition, PhysicalActivity, and Obesity in Rural America”, an increasing number of young people areoverweight and obesity has a significant economic impact The United States Department

of Health and Human Services lists being overweight and obesity as one of the ten

“leading health indicators” The youth are also much less active than they used to be.Vietnam is becoming more developed, so Vietnamese’s modern lives have been changedsignificantly Fastfood came to Vietnam and became a hot trend People’s choices are ofteninfluenced by many factors, such as advertising by fast food companies For the activityproblem, many Vietnamese young people are spending less time exercising and more time

in front of the TV, computer or video-game console From poor nutrition to lack ofactivity, young people are becoming unhealthier

II MAJOR FINDING:

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS NUTRITION?

Nutrition is the provision to cells and organisms of the materials necessary to support life.The human beings gain nutrition from the food in order to provide energy to grow and dowork There are six major classes of nutrients: Carbohydrates, Fats, Protein, Vitamins,Minerals and Water and be categorized into 2 groups: Macronutrients and Micronutrients

1 Macronutrients:

 Carbohydrates: constitute a big part of foods, such as rice, noodle, bread, grain.

Carbohydrates are absorbed quickly and therefore raise blood-sugar levels morerapidly than other nutrients

 Proteins: are the basis of many animal body structures They form the enzymes that

control chemical reactions throughout the body Sources of dietary protein includemeats, eggs, soy-products, dairy products and tofu…

 Fats: are classified as saturated or un saturated depending on the detailed structure

of the fatty acids involved

 Fiber: in grains, fruits and vegetables… These can help lower blood glucose

levels

 Water: is excreted from the body in multiple forms It is necessary to adequately

rehydrate to replace lost fluids

2 Micronutrients:

 Vitamins: are the essential nutrients, can be found in fruits and vegetables…

 Minerals

CHAPTER 2: THE NUTRITION PROBLEM AT NEU AND ITS EFECTS

Nowadays, in some countries, including Vietnam, an increasing number of teenagers are having nutrition and weight problems These problems had bad influence on their health and also their studies Among people who are affected on nutrition problem, there are a lot of students studying at National Economics University The author will point out the real nutrition situation of NEU students in this chapter

The research was focus on 2 main purposes: NEU students’ eating habits and NEU students and dietary

1 NEU students’ eating habits:

Firstly, the participants were questioned about their meal frequency It can be seen fromthe chart, 39% of students ate 3 – 4 meals per day Normally, human needs to have at least

3 meals include breakfast, lunch and dinner for providing enough energy in a day’s work

or study Besides, people can also add some small meals to achieve their ideal physiques The result showed that nearly one third (31%) of students had 5 – 6 meals each day Because NEU students are young people, their nutrition demands are very high They ate many times a day to suppress their hunger Not surprisingly, many students usually ate

every 3 – 4 hours to get their meals in Moreover, there are 18% of students said they ate more than 6 meals per day while only 12% ate 1 – 2 meals.

This chart illustrates NEU students’ favorite food, include 6 main kind of food: meat, seafood, vegetable, bread, fastfood and junk food Vegetable and meat were the type of food which had the highest choices, with 68% and 67% These foods provided nutrition that useful for the survival and the health of body Nowadays, vegetable played an

important role in diet so people add more vegetable in their meals Amazingly, junk food – the food which was very popular for people, especially for students had 59 choices It is easy to recognize that the modern youth ate too much junk food, which was likely

contributing to the current obesity epidemic This kind of food was high in fat or sugars, and didn’t also having some nutritional value Besides, seafood, fastfood and bread had about 30 – 40 votes as students’ favorite food Finally, there was only 5 out of 100 people gave the other answers

According to the experiment, 34% of students usually ate on time The percentage of students who didn’t do this accounted for 29%, less than 5% For some reasons, students could not have meals on time such as not having enough time, not having enough money

or even dislike doing this On the other hand, 37 NEU students said sometimes they had meals on time

2 NEU students and dietary:

The second matter that the research focuses on is NEU students’ dietary In all of 100students who took part in this survey, only 37 students believed that it was good to go on adiet whereas nearly two third – 63% of them didn’t think so However, in fact, there wasjust over a half of NEU participants (59%) have been on diet

When being asked for the reasons why 59 students have been on diet, the purpose “Toachieve a more attractive figure” scored highest with 100% of the votes 74.6% of studentsbelieved that going on a diet helped them look like models, movie stars or singers, … Inaddition, 32 out of 59 students said they did it because they influenced of their friends.Sadly, there was only 28 students went on diet in order to be healthier Some ofparticipants also gave 2 other reasons for dieting

In order to go on a diet, almost students chose “Skipping meals” with 86.4% of votes.They thought it was a very effective method but in reality, it had so many drawbacks.Besides, many students agreed to eat lots of vegetable and fruits, drink a lot of water andalso do more exercise as the ways to diet These method had several benefits, especiallykeep them in good shape Furthermore, 23.7% of students used weight loss pill – whichwas not really good for health It might help people lose weight quickly but also haveanother beyond problem.

An unbalanced diet can bring a lot of problems for people 83.1% of students said thatthey always felt hungry “Skipping meals” method maybe was the reason for this problem.When their bodies lack of nutrition, they could get easy to be tired Not surprisingly, thissign consisted of 76.3% of students’ feelings Moreover, 38 out of 59 students felt dizzywhen staying on diet These figure proved that NEU students didn’t have the real balanceddiet!

There is no reason why an unbalanced diet cannot bring bad effects to NEU students Atfirst, 93 out of 100 students recognized that they could get unhealthy minds and bodieswhen having poor nutrition diet It also made people have digestive problems 77% ofstudents agreed that an unbalanced diet could be the reason for malnutrition In addition,people could get easy to be tired, exhausted - with 73% of choices, and get sickly image –with 69 votes At last, NEU students also gave more 13 disadvantages for this problem

CHAPTER 3: ADVICES FOR NEU STUDENTS TO HAVE HEALTHIER DIETS AND BODIES

Based on the survey about the nutrition of NEU students, the author came to understandthe need of a healthy diet for everyone here The healthy diet could make the studentsbecome healthier physically as well as mentally Moreover, having a diet with enoughnutrition help each student study well and maintain a good normal daily life

Because of all these reasons above, the researcher will explore the reality of thenutrition condition at NEU Hopefully, this research will share with the NEU students theadvices and the ideas to help each student have a healthier diet and body

1 Having a balanced diet:

Firstly, having a balanced diet is the most important solution for all NEU students Inorder to have enough energy to function normally, human needs Carbohydrates, Fats,Proteins, Minerals, Vitamins and enough water People also need to have at least threemeals per day: breakfast, lunch, dinner and some snacks in between to help provide energyfor working and studying A well-balanced diet provides enough energy and nutrition foroptimal growth and development

A balanced diet will help people have healthy bodies and healthy minds However, ifyou want to have this diet, you need to have knowledge about body’s nutrition demands,nutrition’s values Then everyone will know how to choose which food in accordance witheach condition and different periods of human development A healthy diet gets the righttypes and amounts of foods and drinks to provide nutrition and energy for maintainingbody cells, tissues and organs The nutritionist showed the Food Pyramid which was ageneral nutrition guide for recommended food consumption for human being It guidespeople to have a balance of macronutrients (include Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats),calories to support needed-energy; and micronutrients

Breakfast plays an indispensable role in our daily lives – it is the most important meal

of the day It provides most of the energy human needs in a day Because of its function,everyone should have breakfast in the early morning before working or studying Manystudies showed that breakfast sets the course for our eating habits everyday Eatingbreakfast also provides energy that can increase the concentration level How can peoplehave a balanced breakfast? Breakfast should include Carbohydrate, Protein and Fiber This

combination will help supply your hunger and also will keep you feeling full until lunchtime People can gain nutrition from meat, eggs, nuts, rice, bread, noodles and dairyproducts (low-fat or free-fat milk, cheese and yogurt) Fiber can come from fruits,vegetables or grains In many Western countries, people enjoy eating sweet breads, someslices of toast with butter or jam, sandwich (include breads, beef or ham, salad vegetable,cheese and variety of sauces) or a bowl of grain with low-fat milk… as breakfast Coffee isthe most common breakfast beverage They are also tea, milk, hot chocolate and juice Inthe other hand, in most of the Eastern countries, especially in Vietnam, people like to eatsticky rice, noodle, bread with pate, egg or sausage and also drink green tea, coffee, milk

or soy milk to complete their breakfasts

The dietitians found that people who skip breakfast were disproportionately likely tohave problems with concentration, metabolism and weight Studies showed that childrenwho eat breakfast perform better on tests and at school It works that way for adults Inmany situations, skipping breakfast is such a bad idea! People skip breakfast because ofseveral reasons: not having enough time, being afraid of getting hungrier sooner when theyeat breakfast or even trying to lose weight Skipping breakfast is a common way for peoplewho take the meal-skipping approach to losing weight, but it is usually not a successfulone Skipping breakfast often leads to over-eating later during the day Your body and yourbrain expect to be refueled a few times each day, so when you skip meals you may feel sohungry that when lunch time comes, you over-eat You also feel tired, dizzy or evenexhausted if you skip breakfast regularly Furthermore, it makes people lose memory andget harder to focus on studying or working It is said that any breakfast maybe better than

no breakfast, but you should not eat too much during breakfast There are some foods arehigh in sugars, sodium, saturated fats and calories These are no good for diet

2 Doing exercise regularly:

Do you want to have a healthy body? Please exercise as much as you can! Peopleshould exercise on a regular basis because it’s really important to keep fit It’s not onlycurb appetite, burn off calories but also improve the health for your heart, lungs and thecirculatory system Besides, doing exercise regularly can help prevent or delay some healthconditions such as dizziness, heart attacks, and low blood pressure

To gain health benefits by doing exercise, NEU students can join the gym by goingabout twice or three times each week or train at home It would be great if you start off by