Comparisons of Dietary, Living Habits and Blood Parameters in Underweight and Overweight University Students

This study was carried out to compared the characteristics of the underweight university students with those of overweight university students. The survey was carried out by self-questionnaires with 97 underweight and 156 overweight university students. The results are summarized as follows. Breakfast was skipped in 37.1% of underweight and 46.2% of overweight students and it appeared overweight students eat faster than underweight students. The 16.5% of underweight and 75.0% of overweight students have correct perception about their body image. The percentage of weight control experience were 25.8 and 55.8 in the underweight and overweight students, respectively. Blood levels of lipid profiles(triglyceride, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol), hemoglobin, AST and ALT were anaylzed. Plasma levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol of underweight students were 96.41, 143.75, 97.53 and 56.27 mg/dl, and those of overweight students were 107.99, 164.31, 100.08 and 53.64 mg/dl, respectively. Blood parameters were in normal range in both group. Plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels of overweight students were higher than those of underweight students. On the other hand, plasma HDL cholesterol levels of overweight students were lower than those of underweight students. Plasma levels of AST and ALT were in normal range in both group. However, AST and ALT levels of overweight students were higher than that of underweight students. Therefore they should have a nutritional education program to improve their dietary and living habits for overweight students' health. And nutritional education program should be organized practically and systematically