Meeting Dietary Food Groups Serving’s Requirements of Food Guide Pyramid among Jordanian University Students

Abstract

The current study was conducted in the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Northern of Jordan. The aim of this study is to determine the consumption from food groups compared with the food guide pyramid among University students living away from their homes and to examine how the economic status of the study sample and the influence it has on spent on food.  The study targeted male students known to live away from their parents, where a convenient sample of 370 male students chosen randomly from different majors and academic years and with different socio-economic backgrounds. Participants were interviewed by trained nutritionists where the actual intakes number of servings from each food groups was recorded. The results of the study showed that 75.7% of the study subjects who lived away from home; they reside in Jordan, while 24.3% of the students’ parents were living outside Jordan. In addition, most of outside students fit in the highest financial income per month category comprising three-quarters those in the “more than 201 dinar” category. Regarding the number of servings consumed from each group, 44% of the study sample consume less than the minimum recommended servings for the dairy group; most participants don’t meet the recommendations for meat and meat substitutes group by a percentage of 38.9%; only 11.1% meet daily recommendations from vegetables group; 46% of students do not meet the minimum recommended number of servings of fruits group and most of the study sample (43.8%) meet recommended number of servings from grain group.  It is recommended to meet daily recommendations of servings from the food groups (dairy, meat, grains, fruits and vegetables); specifically to increase fruits intake; for it’s rich content of nutrients not available from any other sources. Further studies are suggested to evaluate the food intake with different dietary evaluation tools.

Key words: Food Groups, Serving, Food Guide Pyramid, Residency, University Students, Jordan.