Abstract

From March 10 to April 3, 1999. questionnaires were sent to 157 students at an university located in Hongsong. South Choongchung Province in order to find out their eating habits and exercise patterns. The analysis of the questionnaires collected reveals the followings. 1. Eating Habits 1) 76 out of total 157 respondents (48.4%) said that they skipped breakfast. The significant difference was shown in the frequency of breakfast eating based on respondents' sex. Male students had higher rate of going without breakfast (73.92%) than their female counterparts (28.41%). 2) Most respondents finished eating their meals within 20 minutes. with 58.5% spending 10 to 20 minutes. followed by 28.0% taking less than 10 minutes. 3) With respect to the frequency of eating snacks. 1 to 2 times per day came on top with 63.7%. Significant difference was shown based on sex. with male students having more frequent snacks than female students. 40.1% of those surveyed said they ate snacks because they were either bored or hungry, respectively, 67.5% took snacks after school followed by 23.6% who had snacks after dinner. 4) Concerning the frequency of taking food. 1 to 2 times per week recorded the highest mark for beta-carotine. fruits. fish. beans. milk. seaweeds and fries. As for vegetables. 6 to 7 times a week received the highest points. Males showed significantly higher frequency of taking fruits than females. while the opposite was true for beans. 5) More than 50% of the respondents chose rice and fruits as the food they could eat really well. All those surveyed ate fruits and vegetables. More than 10% of students said they did not eat donut. chocolate. candies. fries. coke and clear carbonated beverage. milk. ham and sausage. The food that revealed significant difference based on sex included ramyon, coke and clear carbonated beverages, ham and sausage, yogurt and milk, with males showing greater preference than their female counterparts. 6) The most preferred by respondents was spicy taste (49.04%), followed by sour (36.31%), sweet (25.48%), and salty tastes(21.1%). Those surveyed shunned sweet taste the most (21.02%), followed by sour (14.65%), spicy (8.92%), salty (5.10%) tastes. 2. Workout Patterns 1) 14.01% of the respondents said they took exercise. Based on sex, males showed significantly higher rate of 21.74% than 7.95% of females. Those who took exercise did so mostly three times a week. With regard to the time spent on workout. 'within 2 hours' received the highest points. Soccer was found to be the most popular sport among the respondents. The above analysis demonstrated that the students surveyed selected relatively sound answers in the categories of the food preference and taste. However. some skipped breakfast and liked eating snacks. and most did not take exercise, which may raise health problems including the weight increase. Therefore, ways should be devised to tackle such problems to ensure healthy lives.

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