Unhealthy dietary patterns among healthcare professionals and students in Mexico

Author, as appears in the article.: Betancourt-Nunez, Alejandra; Marquez-Sandoval, Fabiola; Gonzalez-Zapata, Laura I; Babio, Nancy; Vizmanos, Barbara

Department: Bioquímica i Biotecnologia

URV's Author/s: Babio Sánchez, Nancy Elvira

Keywords: Young; Mexico; Health personnel; Dietary pattern; mexico; health personnel; dietary pattern

Abstract: © 2018 The Author(s). Background: While dietary patterns (DPs) enable the combination of foods that make up a person's habitual diet to be known, little is known about the DPs of health sector professionals. The objective of this study was to describe the DPs of healthcare students and professionals and assess their association with sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric and biochemical characteristics. Methods: Cross-sectional design. A sample (n = 319) of healthcare students and professionals in apparent good health who studied or worked at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico) was selected. A semiquantitative food intake frequency questionnaire validated on a Mexican population was administered. Questions covering sociodemographic factors, smoking habits and physical activity were asked. Weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides, glucose, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol were also measured. DPs were generated from a principal components analysis of 25 food groups, and associations were analyzed using logistic regression adjusted for age and sex. Results: The majority of participants were younger than 29 years (84%), women (71.2%) and students (59.6%). Three DPs were identified: Traditional Westernized, Healthy and Animal protein and alcoholic beverages. After adjustment, the Traditional Westernized DP was positively associated with being younger than 22 years (OR: 2.15; 95%CI: 1.1-4.1); the Healthy DP was positively associated with having a daily energy expenditure from physical activity greater than 605 kcal (OR: 4.19; 95%CI: 2.3-7.5), and it was negatively associated with being younger than 22 years (OR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.2-0.9); and the Animal protein and alcoholic beverages DP was positively associated with being male (OR: 3.07; 95%CI: 1.8-5.1) and a smoker (OR: 2.77; 95%CI: 1.2-6.3). No association was found between DPs and anthropometric and biochemical characteristics. Conclusions: Among the participants evaluated, healthy DP was associated with being physically active while unhealthy DPs were associated with being younger than 22 years, male and a smoker. These data suggest that being knowledgeable about health does not ensure that individuals will engage in healthy behaviors. As is the case among the general population, training and individual efforts aimed at achieving healthy behaviors must be reinforced by initiatives undertaken by social groups, social institutions, the community at large as well as political and business leaders.

Thematic Areas: Zootecnia / recursos pesqueiros; Sociología; Serviço social; Saúde coletiva; Química; Public, environmental & occupational health; Public health, environmental and occupational health; Psicología; Planejamento urbano e regional / demografia; Odontología; Nutrição; Medicina iii; Medicina ii; Medicina i; Interdisciplinar; Geociências; Farmacia; Ensino; Enfermagem; Educação física; Educação; Economia; Ciências biológicas iii; Ciências biológicas ii; Ciências biológicas i; Ciências ambientais; Ciência de alimentos; Biotecnología; Astronomia / física; Antropologia / arqueologia; Administração, ciências contábeis e turismo; Administração pública e de empresas, ciências contábeis e turismo

licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

ISSN: 14712458

Author's mail: nancy.babio@urv.cat

Record's date: 2025-02-08

Paper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Link to the original source: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-6153-7

Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Paper original source: Bmc Public Health. 18 (1): 1246-

APA: Betancourt-Nunez, Alejandra; Marquez-Sandoval, Fabiola; Gonzalez-Zapata, Laura I; Babio, Nancy; Vizmanos, Barbara (2018). Unhealthy dietary patterns among healthcare professionals and students in Mexico. Bmc Public Health, 18(1), 1246-. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-018-6153-7

Article's DOI: 10.1186/s12889-018-6153-7

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Journal publication year: 2018

Publication Type: Journal Publications