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The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing body mass index of 618 university students located in the Gwangju area, from Nov. 20th to 30th, 2002. The subjects included 301 males(48.7%) and 317 females(51.3%). This survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. The percentage of shidents who were underweight, normal and overweight based on their body mass index(BMI) was 3.7, 88.0 and 8.3 for the males, and 29.71 and 0 for the females, respectively. Most students(73.8%) skipped breakfast. This was because of lack of time(65.1%) of the cases. Self-reported eating habit problems were eating irregular meal(52.4%), overeating(21%), prejidiced meal(12.4%) and skipping meal(7.4%). The type of favorite snack was biscuit(31.9%) and cup Ramyon(31.9%). The type of favorite beverage was juice(23.3%). The coffee intake was higher in males compared to females. The rates of alcohol drinking in male and female students were 88.0% and 85.8% respectively, and the rates of smoking were 35.9% and 2.8% respectively. Percentages of weight control experience were 30.2 and 51.4 in the male and female, respectively. The BMI of students living in home and eating breakfast was higher than that of the other students. The BMI of students eating cup Ramyon and water increased. The BMI of students taking regular exercise and weight control tended to be higher than that of subjects not doing so. When the amount of pocket money available and the rales of coffee intake, alchol drinking and smoking increased, the BMI was increased. Therefore, nytritional education for university students is needed so as to improve their health and to modify life habits and nutritional education program should be developed to meet the various needs of these students.
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