International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health

International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health

Diet Behavior of Employees at a Medical Sciences University in Tehran, Iran: Iran Health Day 2015

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohsen Saberi Isfeedvajani 1
Ali Akbar Karimi Zarchi 2
Ali Mehrabi Tavana 3
1 Medicine, Quran and Hadith Research Center & Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics & Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health & Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Health Management Research Center and Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
10.21859/ijtmgh-040305
Abstract
Introduction: Diet behavior plays an important role in non-communicable disease. The theme of World Health Day 2015 was “improve food safety from farm to plate (always and everywhere)”. The present study assessed the diets of employees at a medical university in Tehran, Iran on Iran Health Day 2015.
Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed the diets of 468 employees of a medical university in Tehran on World Health Day 2015. The subjects completed questionnaires on demographics and diet behavior. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 software. Independent samples t-test or its non-parametric equivalent were used to compare groups.
Results: The mean age of the subjects was 33.45 (SD: 13.19) years. Of these 52.7% were male, 50.8% had university degrees and 42% were obese or overweight. The mean score of the diet questionnaire was 26.15 (±4.46). The highest score was 36 and the lowest was 15. Although the diet questionnaire score was significantly higher for female subjects, there was no significant relationship between educational level and diet questionnaire score.
Conclusion: This study showed that few employees ate breakfast and more than 50% did not restrict their use of sugar and sweets. Female employees scored higher on the diet questionnaire. Overall, diet should be improved through attractive types of continuous education.
Keywords
Diet
Behavior
Lifestyle
Iran
Global Health
  1. Murray CJ, Barber RM, Foreman KJ, et al. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 306 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 188 countries, 1990–2013: quantifying the epidemiological transition. Lancet. 2015;386(10009):2145-2191.
  2. Isfeedvajani MS, Zarchi AAK, Heris AM, Sajjadi F, Tavana AM. Evaluation of personnel blood pressure and its risk factors in university affiliated medical centers: Iran’s Health Day 2013. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2014;28:36.
  3. Hawkes C, Popkin BM. Can the sustainable development goals reduce the burden of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases without truly addressing major food system reforms? BMC Med. 2015;13:143. doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0383-7.
  4. Åkesson A, Larsson SC, Discacciati A, Wolk A. Low-risk diet and lifestyle habits in the primary prevention of myocardial infarction in men: a population-based prospective cohort study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64(13):1299-1306. doi:10.1016/j. jacc.2014.06.1190.
  5. Long GH, Cooper AJ, Wareham NJ, Griffin SJ, Simmons RK. Healthy behavior change and cardiovascular outcomes in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients: a cohort analysis of the ADDITION-Cambridge study. Diabetes Care. 2014;37(6):1712- 1720. doi:10.2337/dc13-1731.
  6. Spring B, Moller AC, Colangelo LA, et al. Healthy lifestyle change and subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults: Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Circulation. 2014;130(1):10-17. doi:10.1161/circulationaha.113.005445.
  7. Young DR, Reynolds K, Sidell M, et al. Effects of physical activity and sedentary time on the risk of heart failure. Circ Heart Fail. 2014;7(1):21-27. doi:10.1161/circheartfailure.113.000529.
  8. Lamichhane AP, Liese AD, Urbina EM, et al. Associations of dietary intake patterns identified using reduced rank regression with markers of arterial stiffness among youth with type 1 diabetes. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68(12):1327-1333. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.96.
  9. Groeneveld IF, Proper KI, van der Beek AJ, Hildebrandt VH, van Mechelen W. Short and long term effects of a lifestyle intervention for construction workers at risk for cardiovascular disease: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2011;11:836.
  10. Huffman KM, Sun JL, Thomas L, et al. Impact of baseline physical activity and diet behavior on metabolic syndrome in a pharmaceutical trial: results from NAVIGATOR. Metabolism. 2014;63(4):554-561. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2014.01.002.
  11. Huffman MD, Capewell S, Ning H, Shay CM, Ford ES, Lloyd-Jones DM. Cardiovascular health behavior and health factor changes (1988–2008) and projections to 2020 results from the national health and nutrition examination surveys. Circulation. 2012;125(21):2595-2602. doi:10.1161/ circulationaha.111.070722.
  12. Spring B, Schneider K, McFadden HG, et al. Multiple behavior changes in diet and activity: a randomized controlled trial using mobile technology. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(10):789-796. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1044.
  13. Schweier R, Romppel M, Richter C, et al. A web-based peer-modeling intervention aimed at lifestyle changes in patients with coronary heart disease and chronic back pain: sequential controlled trial. J Med Internet Res. 2014;16(7):e177. doi:10.1001/ archinternmed.2012.1044.
  14. Focht BC, Lucas AR, Grainger E, Simpson C, Thomas-Ahner JM, Clinton SK. The Individualized Diet and Exercise Adherence Pilot Trial (IDEA-P) in prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2014;15:354. doi:10.1186/1745-6215-15-354. 
  15. Roohafza H, Ali Kabir MD M, Sadeghi M, Shokouh P, Aalaei- Andabili SH, Sarrafzadegan N. Effect of psychological distress on weight concern and weight control behaviors. Arch Iran Med. 2014;17(9):608.
  16. Konikowska K, Regulska-Ilow B, Rozanska D. The influence of components of diet on the symptoms of ADHD in children. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig. 2012;63(2):127-134.
  17. Norton MC, Dew J, Smith H, et al. Lifestyle behavior pattern is associated with different levels of risk for incident dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: the Cache County study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012;60(3):405-412. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03860.x.
  18. Hanson C, Rutten EP, Wouters E, Rennard S. Influence of diet and obesity on COPD development and outcomes. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2014;9:723-733. doi:10.2147/copd.s50111.
  19. Mahapatra S, Chaly PE, Girija AS. Effectiveness of various disinfection techniques on vegetables and fruits: an in-vitro study. Arch Dent Med Res. 2015;1(3):1-8.
  20. Zeidi I, Hajiagha A, Zeidi B. Reliability and validity of Persian version of the health-promoting lifestyle profile. J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci. 2012;22(supple 1):103-113.
  21. Kim HJ, Choi-Kwon S, Kim H, Park YH, Koh CK. Health-promoting lifestyle behaviors and psychological status among Arabs and Koreans in the United Arab Emirates. Res Nurs Health. 2015;38(2):133-141. doi:10.1002/nur.21644.
  22. Fincham SM, Roomaney R, Kagee A. The relationship between worldview, self-efficacy, psychological distress, and a health-promoting lifestyle among a South African undergraduate university sample. S Afr J Psychol. 2015. doi:10.1177/0081246315585935.
  23. Shaheen AM, Nassar OS, Amre HM, Hamdan-Mansour AM. Factors affecting health-promoting behaviors of university students in Jordan. Health. 2015;7(1):1. doi:10.4236/health.2015.71001.
  24. Mohammadian H, Mousavi SGA. Lifestyle of university students in Kashan, Iran and factors affecting it. J Sch Public Health Inst Public Health Res. 2015;12(4):53-63.
  25. Geok SK, Yusof A, Lam SK, Japar S, Leong OS, Fauzee MSO. Physical activity and health-promoting lifestyle of student nurses in Malaysia. J Biosci Med. 2015;3(3):78. doi:10.4236/ jbm.2015.33012.
  26. Hwang WJ, Hong OS, Rankin SH. Predictors of health-promoting behavior associated with cardiovascular diseases among Korean blue-collar workers. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27(2):NP691- NP702. doi:10.1177/1010539513500338.
  27. Shafieyan Z, Qorbani M, Mehr BR, et al. Association between lifestyle and hypertension in patients referred to health care centers of Ilam city in 2014. Glob J Health Sci. 2015;8(6):161. doi:10.1177/1010539513500338.
  28. Mahdipour N, Shahnazi H, Hassanzadeh A, Sharifirad G. The effect of educational intervention on health promoting lifestyle: Focusing on middle-aged women. J Educ Health Promot. 2015;4:51. doi:10.4103/2277-9531.162334.
  29. Safabakhsh L, Arbabisarjou A, Jahantigh M, Nazemzadeh M, Rigi SN, Nosratzehi S. The Effect of Health Promoting Programs on Patient’s Life Style After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft–Hospitalized in Shiraz Hospitals. Glob J Health Sci. 2016;8(5):154.
  30. Chen J, Cheng J, Liu Y, et al. Associations between breakfast eating habits and health-promoting lifestyle, suboptimal health status in Southern China: a population based, cross sectional study. J Transl Med. 2014;12:348. doi:10.1186/s12967-014-0348-1.
  31. Inal S, Canbulat N, Bozkurt G. The effects of healthy lifestyle behaviors of mothers on obesity in preschool children. J Pak Med Assoc. 2015;65(10):1079-1084.

  • Receive Date 19 September 2016