A Comparative Study about the Daily Intake of Fruits and Vegetables among Female Students of Two Universities of Faisalabad

Abstract

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of the daily diet. Eating 3-5 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables a day is important because deeply hued fruits and vegetables provide the wide range of vitamins, minerals, fiber and phyto-chemicals which body needs to maintain good health. Eating fruits and vegetables may truly promote muscle strength and reduce the risks of neuronal aging and cancer among youth. For this purpose, a study was conducted to analyze the students’ daily intake of balanced diet. The present study was conducted on 80 female respondents in “A” university and “B” university, Faisalabad, Pakistan was selected through a simple random sampling technique. The information was gathered from respondents through a questionnaire. Later on the data were analyzed, tables of percentage was applied to interpret the results. Almost both of the students of universities knew about balanced diet. They used to take fruit and vegetable salad in the form of 1/2 cup in a day and 3-4 times in a week. Correspondingly, half of the university students either used to eat vegetable like fried potato, chat, vegetable roll, sandwich, burger or fruit juices and fruit shake at lunch time in university. Both university students agreed that inclusion of fruit and vegetable in junk food would convert the food into healthy food which can help to reduce the obesity and used in weight management programs for youth.