Energy and Nutrient intake and Dietary Diversity among Female Residential Students of Bangladesh

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the sufficiency of energy and nutrient consumption, and food diversity through consumption of different food groups among female residential students of a public university of Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 female residential students, aged 18-26 years, of three female dormitories of a Bangladeshi public university. Dietary information was collected for three consecutive days (two weekdays and one weekend) using a structured Multiple-Pass 24-h recall questionnaire. About 40% of the participants were between 21-23 years of age and most (70%) of them were in normal nutritional status (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)). The mean Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) was 4.84 +/- 1.02. Starchy staples were the main food group consumed (about 299.31 g/d) by the respondents. The median energy intake of the respondents was 1407 kcal/d and no respondent could meet the reference intake of 2100 kcal/d. It was also observed that none of the respondents fulfilled the standard reference intake for Folate, Vitamin B12 and Calcium. The average Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) of the respondents was 0.58 and had a positive association with DDS (r=0.38; P<0.001). Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) of calorie and other nutrients also had a significant positive association with DDS of the respondents except for fat. The present study findings exhibit that DDS can provide quite a good estimate of the nutrient adequacy of the diet of female residential students of Bangladesh. However, educating the students about the nutritious foods can enable them to make a wiser choice from available foods.