Food Security and Anthropometric Status of Undergraduates at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Food insecurity among students is a critical issue that often goes unnoticed because students hide such problems due to shame. This study was designed to investigate the food security status and anthropometric status among students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 432 students at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. The students were selected using simple random sampling. Students information were collected using a questionnaire. Food security and anthropometric status were assessed using standard methods. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Correlation was used to assess relationships between socio-economic characteristics and food security status.

Results: The result revealed that 35.4% of respondents were highly food-secured, 48.4% were marginally food-secured, 10.2% were low food insecure, and 4.9% had deficient food security. 11.3% were underweight, 72.9% were of normal weight, 17.8% were overweight, and 3.9% were in the obese. The waist-hip ratio, showed that 97.5% of the students were normal, while 2.5% were at risk. The study also revealed significant correlations between the respondents' body mass index, their monthly income, monthly expenditure, and their sex. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between monthly income and skipping meals (p<0.05).