Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Title abbreviation: Adv Clin Exp Med
5-Year IF – 2.0, IF – 1.9, JCI (2024) – 0.43
Scopus CiteScore – 4.3
Q1 in SJR 2024, SJR score – 0.598, H-index: 49 (SJR)
ICV – 161.00; MNiSW – 70 pts
Initial editorial assessment and first decision within 24 h

ISSN 1899–5276 (print), ISSN 2451-2680 (online)
Periodicity – monthly

Download original text (EN)

Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine

2017, vol. 26, nr 9, December, p. 1391–1398

doi: 10.17219/acem/65783

Publication type: original article

Language: English

Download citation:

  • BIBTEX (JabRef, Mendeley)
  • RIS (Papers, Reference Manager, RefWorks, Zotero)

Do medical students adhere to advice regarding a healthy lifestyle? A pilot study of BMI and some aspects of lifestyle in medical students in Poland

Dominika Kanikowska1,A,C,D, Dorota Sikorska1,E, Barbara Kuczyńska1,B, Marian Grzymisławski1,E, Andrzej Bręborowicz1,F, Janusz Witowski1,A,E,F

1 Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland

Abstract

Background. The components of lifestyle of medical students, with comprehensive reporting of their physical activity and drinking and eating behavior, are rarely evaluated. Being overweight (increased body mass index – BMI) is associated with health problems, an unhealthy lifestyle (inadequate sleep, diet and exercise) being implicated.
Objectives. The aim was to determine if there were discrepancies between assessments of actual lifestyle and advice regarding the principles of a healthy lifestyle.
Material and Methods. The relationship between lifestyle and BMI was investigated in 270 medical students (158 females, 112 males) who answered a questionnaire about aspects of their lifestyle.
Results. The mean ±SD BMI in males (23.41 ±0.25kg/m2) was significantly higher than in females (20.52 ±0.16kg/m2). Many aspects of lifestyle differed significantly with gender, including sleep habits, number of meals eaten, types of food eaten (fast food, amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables, sweets, etc.) and alcohol consumption, males generally having less healthy lifestyles. After correcting the associations between BMI and lifestyle factors for gender, one main finding was a positive association between BMI and alcohol intake, BMI rising by 0.014 kg/m2/g alcohol intake per week.
Conclusion. These results show clear differences between actual and advised lifestyle with regard to many aspects of sleep, food and fluid intake, and exercise. Most students, particularly males, had not adopted a healthy lifestyle. Possible future problems associated with this require more emphasis.

Key words

obesity, sleep, BMI, food intake

References (46)

  1. World Health Organization (2013) WHO Fact sheet N311 – Obesity and overweight. WHO Media Centre [online database]. WHO: http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/2013. Accessed December 15, 2015.
  2. Boulos R, Vikre EK, Oppenheimer S, Chang H, Kanarek RB. Obesity: How television is influencing the obesity epidemic. Physiol Behav. 2012;107(1):146–153.
  3. St-Onge MP, Roberts AL, Chen J, et al. Short sleep duration increases energy intakes but does not change energy expenditure in normal-weight individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011;94(2):410–416.
  4. Mullington JM, Chan JL, van Dongen HP, et al. Sleep loss reduces diurnal rhythm amplitude of leptin in healthy men. J Neuroendocrinol. 2003;15:851–854.
  5. Spiegel K, Tasali E, Penev P, van Cauter E. Brief communication: Sleep curtailment in healthy young men is associated with decreased leptin levels, elevated ghrelin levels, and increased hunger and appetite. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:846–850.
  6. Sekine M, Yamagami T, Handa K, et al. A dose-response relationship between short sleeping hours and childhood obesity: Results of the Toyama Birth Cohort Study. Child Care Health Dev. 2002;28:163–170.
  7. Xiao Q, Arem H, Moore SC, Hollenbeck AR, Matthews CE. A large prospective investigation of sleep duration, weight change, and obesity in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2013;178(11):1600–1610.
  8. Buxton OM, Marcelli E. Short and long sleep are positively associated with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease among adults in the United States. Soc Sci Med. 2010;71:1027–1036.
  9. Chao CY, Wu JS, Yang YC, et al. Sleep duration is a potential risk factor for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism. 2011;60:799–804.
  10. Chaput JP, Després JP, Bouchard C, Tremblay A. The association between short sleep duration and weight gain is dependent on disinhibited eating behavior in adults. Sleep. 2011;34(10):1291–1297.
  11. Nedeltcheva AV, Kilkus JM, Imperial J, Kasza K, Schoeller DA, Penev PD. Sleep curtailment is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(1):126–133.
  12. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999–2010. JAMA. 2012;307(5):483–490.
  13. Mokdad AH, Serdula MK, Dietz WH, Bowman BA, Marks JS, Koplan JP. The spread of the obesity epidemic in the United States, 1991–1998. JAMA. 1999;282(16):1519–1522.
  14. Burke GL, Bild DE, Hilner JE, Folsom AR, Wagenknecht LE, Sidney S. The spread of the obesity epidemic in the United States, 1991–1998. Differences in weight gain in relation to race, gender, age and education in young adults: The CARDIA Study. Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults. Ethn Health. 1996;1(4):327–335.
  15. Waterhouse J, Bailey L, Tomlinson F, Edwards B, Atkinson G, Reilly T. Food intake in healthy young adults: Effects of time pressure and social factors. Chronobiol Int. 2005;22:1069–1092.
  16. Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Jedema MJ, Wijckmans-Duijsens NE. The role of macronutrient selection in determining patterns of food intake in obese and non-obese women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1996;50:580–591.
  17. Polish Ministry of Health: National Health Programme for the years 2007–2015. Annex to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 90/2007 of 15 May 2007. www.mz.gov.pl/__data/assets/.../1943_001pop.pdf. Accessed May 15, 2007.
  18. Ko MS. The comparison in daily intake of nutrients, dietary habits and body composition of female college students by body mass index. Nutr Res Pract. 2007;1(2):131–142.
  19. Sakamaki R, Amamoto R, Mochida Y, Shinfuku N, Toyama K. A comparative study of food habits and body shape perception of university students in Japan and Korea. Nutr J. 2005;4:31.
  20. Sakamaki R, Toyama K, Amamoto R, Liu CJ, Shinfuku N. Nutritional knowledge, food habits and health attitude of Chinese university students: A cross sectional study. Nutr J. 2005;4:4.
  21. World Health Organization (2006) Global database on body mass index (BMI). [online database]. http://www.who.int/bmi. Accessed April 17, 2008.
  22. Kuczmarski RJ, Flegal KM. Criteria for definition of overweight in transition: Background and recommendations for the United States. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72(5):1074–1081.
  23. Ranasinghe C, Gamage P, Katulanda P, Andraweera N, Thilakarathne S, Tharanga P. Relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage, estimated by bioelectrical impedance, in a group of Sri Lankan adults: A cross sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(1):797.
  24. Trost SG, Pate RR, Sallis JF, et al. Age and gender differences in objectively measured physical activity in youth. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002;34(2):350–355.
  25. Patel SR, Malhotra A, White DP, Gottlieb DJ, Hu FB. Association between reduced sleep and weight gain in women. Am J Epidemiol. 2006;164(10):947–954.
  26. Itani O, Kaneita Y, Murata A, Yokoyama E, Ohida T. Association of onset of obesity with sleep duration and shift work among Japanese adults. Sleep Med. 2011;12(4):341–345.
  27. Appelhans BM, Janssen I, Cursio JF, et al. Sleep duration and weight change in midlife women: The SWAN sleep study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013;21(1):77–84.
  28. Stranges S, Cappuccio FP, Kandala NB, et al. Cross-sectional versus prospective associations of sleep duration with changes in relative weight and body fat distribution: The Whitehall II Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;167(3):321–329.
  29. Blundell JE, Cooling J. Routes to obesity. Phenotypes, food choices and activity. Br J Nutr. 2000;83(Suppl 1):33–38.
  30. de Castro JM. When, how much and what foods are eaten are related to total daily food intake. Br J Nutr. 2009;102:1228–1237.
  31. Verboeket-van de Venne WP, Westerterp KR. Influence of the feeding frequency on nutrient utilization in man: Consequences for energy metabolism. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1991;45(3):161–169.
  32. Keim N, VanLoan M, Horn W, Barbieri T, Mayclin P. Weight loss is greater with consumption of large morning meals and fat-free mass is preserved with large evening meals in women on a controlled weight reduction regimen. J Nutr. 1997;127:75–82.
  33. Bray MS, Tsai JY, Villegas-Montoya C, et al. Time-of-day-dependent dietary fat consumption influences multiple cardiometabolic syndrome parameters in mice. Int J Obes (Lond). 2010;34(11):1589–1598.
  34. Heo M, Kim RS, Wylie-Rosett J, Allison DB, Heymsfield SB, Faith MS. Inverse association between fruit and vegetable intake and BMI even after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Obesity Facts. 2011;4(6):449–455.
  35. Deliens T, Clarys P, van Hecke L, de Bourdeaudhuij I, Deforche B. Changes in weight and body composition during the first semester at university: A prospective explanatory study. Appetite. 2013;65:111–116.
  36. Di Milia L, Vandelanotte C, Duncan MJ. The association between short sleep and obesity after controlling for demographic, lifestyle, work and health related factors. Sleep Med. 2013;14(4):319–323.
  37. Thomson CA, Wertheim BC, Hingle M, et al. Alcohol consumption and body weight change in postmenopausal women: Results from the Women’s Health Initiative. Int J Obes (Lond). 2012;36(9):1158–1164.
  38. Lahti-Koski M, Pietinen P, Heliövaara M, Vartiainen E. Associations of body mass index and obesity with physical activity, food choices, alcohol intake, and smoking in the 1982–1997 FINRISK Studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;75(5):809–817.
  39. Stewart-Knox B, Duffy ME, Bunting B, Parr H, vas de Almeida MD, Gibney M. Associations between obesity (BMI and waist circumference) and socio-demographic factors, physical activity, dietary habits, life events, resilience, mood, perceived stress and hopelessness in healthy older Europeans. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:424.
  40. U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2010. 7th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2010.
  41. Cluskey M, Grobe D. College weight gain and behavior transitions: Male and female differences. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(2):325–329.
  42. Friedenberg FK, Tang DM, Vanar V, Mendonca T. Predictive value of body mass index at age 18 on adulthood obesity: Results of a prospective survey of an urban population. Am J Med Sci. 2011;342(5):371–382.
  43. Stevens J, Keil JE, Waid LR, Gazes PC. Accuracy of current, 4-year, and 28-year self-reported body weight in an elderly population. Am J Epidemiol. 1990;132(6):1156–1163.
  44. Lauderdale DS, Knutson KL, Yan LL, Liu K, Rathouz PJ. Self-reported and measured sleep duration: How similar are they? Epidemiology. 2008;19(6):838–845.
  45. Vìtrovská R, Vilikus Z, Klaschka J, et al. Does impedance measure a functional state of the body fat? Physiol Res. 2014;63(Suppl 2):309–320.
  46. Baron KG, Reid KJ, Kern AS, Zee PC. Role of sleep timing in caloric intake and BMI. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011;19(7):1374–1381.
© Wroclaw Medical University