Alice Solomon, Eucharia Mbat, Srinivas Medavarapu, Olajumoke Faleti, David Otohinoyi
Title: Feeding habits and its impact on concentration and attentiveness among medical students in Dominica.
Background: Food is essential for good health. Aside other benefits, it has been acknowledged that the status of the learning process is directly proportional to good nutrition. However, studies have shown that majority of medical student do not participate in a healthy dietary plan, because of time and workload. As a result, it is suspected that some medical students may have a poor learning process. This study thus tries to correlate food and academic performance among medical students in Dominica.
Methods and Findings: A total of 182 students participated. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed and analysis done by Stata IC 13. Amongst the group studied, 169 (92.35%) acknowledged to skipping meals, while 111 (62.01%) preferred junk food to healthy diets while studying. Majority of students with poor intake of balanced diet could only spend 3-4 hrs studying. Also, students who had regular breakfast testified to be able to stay more than 6 hrs studying.
Conclusion: This study supported the fact that food plays a vital role in the learning process of students. In addition to identifying the correlate, the study also recognized the need for proper student awareness on food choices.
