The prevalence of nutritional deficiency and obesity increased day by day due to inappropriate dietary practices and attitudes. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 250 female hostel residents aged 18 to 25 years, using a convenience sampling method to select the participants. A structured questionnaire was used to data collected which contains demographic variables: anthropometric measurements and questions regarding nutrition and dietary practices. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study shown that most of the girls were between 19–21 years of age and most of them were 3^rd year students. 34.4% of the girls preferred a vegetarian diet and statistically significant with a risk of nutritional deficiency (p < 0.01). The association between skipped meals and snacking patterns with the risk of nutritional deficiency was significant (p < 0.05). The results shown that 64.8% of the girls had normal BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were among 12.8% and 18.8% girls are  underweighted, whereas 3.6% of girls are in severe underweight, 39.2% of the girls had poor nutritional knowledge, and 25.6% of students had adequate knowledge. The study concluded that girls residing in the hostel had poor nutritional knowledge and there is a risk of developing nutritional deficiencies. Food and nutritional knowledge will affect the quality of dietary intake, food purchasing behavior, lifestyle, attitude, and nutritional status of the individual.

Keywords: Nutritional status, nutritional knowledge, nutritional deficiencies, food choices,eating behaviours, anthropometry

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1. National Institute of Nutrition (India). Recommended dietary allowances and nutrient requirements. Hyderabad: NIN; 2020 Aug 17 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.nin.res.in/RDA_Full_Report_2024.html.
2. World Health Organization. Malnutrition: fact sheet. Geneva: WHO; 2024 Mar 1 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition.
3. Kamal SM, Hassan CH, Alam GM. Dual burden of underweight and overweight women in Bangladesh: Patterns, prevalence, and sociodemographic correlates. J Health Popul Nutr. 2015 Mar;33(1):92–105. PMID: 25995726; PMCID: PMC4438653.
4. Griffiths PL, Bentley ME. The nutrition transition is underway in India. J Nutr. 2001 Oct;131(10):2692–700. doi:10.1093/jn/131.10.2692. PMID: 11584092.
5. Elder L, Ransom E. Nutrition of women and adolescent girls: Why it matters. Washington (DC): Population Reference Bureau; 2003 Jul 21 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.prb.org/resources/nutrition-of-women-and-adolescent-girls-why-it-matters/.
6. Pallavi R, Deepa R, Devaki CS. A study on assessment of nutritional status and nutritional knowledge of working women residing in hostels at Mysuru City. J Food Process Technol. 2020;11:841. doi:10.35248/2157–7110.20.11.841.
7. Abraham S, Noriega B, Shin J. College students’ eating habits and knowledge of nutritional requirements. J Nutr Hum Health. 2018;2:13–7. doi: 10.35841/nutrition-human-health.2.1.13–17.
8. Zuhair HMU, Fatima K, Hussain U, Ayub A. Assessment of eating habits, lifestyle and physical activity among medical and dental students of Faisalabad Medical University. Pak J Med Sci. 2024 Jan–Feb;40(3 Pt II):473–6. doi:10.12669/pjms.40.3.7323. PMID: 38356821; PMCID: PMC10862435.
9. Duarte PAS, Palmeira L, Pinto-Gouveia J. The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21: A confirmatory factor analysis in a Portuguese sample. Eat Weight Disord. 2020;25:247–56. doi:10.1007/s40519-018-0561-7.
10. Yousif MM, Kaddam LA, Humeda HS. Correlation between physical activity, eating behavior and obesity among Sudanese medical students. BMC Nutr. 2019;5(1):1–8. doi:10.1186/s40795-019-0271-1.

The prevalence of nutritional deficiency and obesity increased day by day due to inappropriate dietary practices and attitudes. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 250 female hostel residents aged 18 to 25 years, using a convenience sampling method to select the participants. A structured questionnaire was used to data collected which contains demographic variables: anthropometric measurements and questions regarding nutrition and dietary practices. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study shown that most of the girls were between 19–21 years of age and most of them were 3^rd year students. 34.4% of the girls preferred a vegetarian diet and statistically significant with a risk of nutritional deficiency (p < 0.01). The association between skipped meals and snacking patterns with the risk of nutritional deficiency was significant (p < 0.05). The results shown that 64.8% of the girls had normal BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were among 12.8% and 18.8% girls are  underweighted, whereas 3.6% of girls are in severe underweight, 39.2% of the girls had poor nutritional knowledge, and 25.6% of students had adequate knowledge. The study concluded that girls residing in the hostel had poor nutritional knowledge and there is a risk of developing nutritional deficiencies. Food and nutritional knowledge will affect the quality of dietary intake, food purchasing behavior, lifestyle, attitude, and nutritional status of the individual.

Keywords: Nutritional status, nutritional knowledge, nutritional deficiencies, food choices,eating behaviours, anthropometry

🔒 This is a subscription article

Full text is available to subscribers and institutional members. Please choose an option below to access it.

1. National Institute of Nutrition (India). Recommended dietary allowances and nutrient requirements. Hyderabad: NIN; 2020 Aug 17 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.nin.res.in/RDA_Full_Report_2024.html.
2. World Health Organization. Malnutrition: fact sheet. Geneva: WHO; 2024 Mar 1 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition.
3. Kamal SM, Hassan CH, Alam GM. Dual burden of underweight and overweight women in Bangladesh: Patterns, prevalence, and sociodemographic correlates. J Health Popul Nutr. 2015 Mar;33(1):92–105. PMID: 25995726; PMCID: PMC4438653.
4. Griffiths PL, Bentley ME. The nutrition transition is underway in India. J Nutr. 2001 Oct;131(10):2692–700. doi:10.1093/jn/131.10.2692. PMID: 11584092.
5. Elder L, Ransom E. Nutrition of women and adolescent girls: Why it matters. Washington (DC): Population Reference Bureau; 2003 Jul 21 [cited 2025 Sep 11]. Available from: https://www.prb.org/resources/nutrition-of-women-and-adolescent-girls-why-it-matters/.
6. Pallavi R, Deepa R, Devaki CS. A study on assessment of nutritional status and nutritional knowledge of working women residing in hostels at Mysuru City. J Food Process Technol. 2020;11:841. doi:10.35248/2157–7110.20.11.841.
7. Abraham S, Noriega B, Shin J. College students’ eating habits and knowledge of nutritional requirements. J Nutr Hum Health. 2018;2:13–7. doi: 10.35841/nutrition-human-health.2.1.13–17.
8. Zuhair HMU, Fatima K, Hussain U, Ayub A. Assessment of eating habits, lifestyle and physical activity among medical and dental students of Faisalabad Medical University. Pak J Med Sci. 2024 Jan–Feb;40(3 Pt II):473–6. doi:10.12669/pjms.40.3.7323. PMID: 38356821; PMCID: PMC10862435.
9. Duarte PAS, Palmeira L, Pinto-Gouveia J. The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21: A confirmatory factor analysis in a Portuguese sample. Eat Weight Disord. 2020;25:247–56. doi:10.1007/s40519-018-0561-7.
10. Yousif MM, Kaddam LA, Humeda HS. Correlation between physical activity, eating behavior and obesity among Sudanese medical students. BMC Nutr. 2019;5(1):1–8. doi:10.1186/s40795-019-0271-1.