Conducted local studies demonstrate a high prevalence of risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases among students of medical universities, as well as a tendency to unhealthy nutrition (qualitative, quantitative composition of food, diet). Creating and maintaining conditions for maintaining the health of medical students is a socially significant task due to the high demand for the profession of a doctor. This work is intended to draw attention to the existing problems.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Assess the actual organization of food at the educational bases of medical universities and the subjective attitude of students to it.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This study is part of the first multicenter study «The Health of the Future Doctor» conducted in Russia. Students of medical universities, full-time students, regardless of the faculty and course, were invited to the survey. Data collection for the study was carried out in 2 stages. At the first stage, respondents answered an anonymous online questionnaire. The form was available for completion from March 2021 to November 2021 inclusive. At the second stage of data collection, the coordinators visited catering establishments located at medical universities, recording observations in the checklist. The Nutrition Environment Measures Survey questionnaire became the methodological basis for developing the checklist. The audit was carried out only in cafes and canteens located in the main buildings of medical universities; clinical sites were not included in the study. The received data is systematized using Google Forms and MS Excel. In total, 11 universities from 10 cities of Russia took part in the study. The total number of participants was 2.321. The average age of the respondents was 21 years.
RESULTS
The majority (66.9%) of the respondents reported that conditions were created in cafes and canteens for warming up food brought from home, these data were confirmed during the audit of public catering establishments by the coordinators of the centers. Sufficient for taking hot meals, the duration of the break was called 57%. 69.4% of students consider the optimum range of cafes and canteens, 42.6% of students «often» refuse to eat due to a long queue in the canteen, 44.5% — due to the lack of healthy food in cafes. The presence of fresh vegetables and fruits in the menu is denied by 60.6% of students, dairy products without added sugar (cottage cheese, kefir, fermented baked milk) — 71.9% of respondents. According to the results of the survey, 15% of future doctors are overweight, and 29.7% state that they have a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, the need to comply with the diet and control the qualitative composition of the food they eat.
CONCLUSION
The results obtained demonstrate that there is a systemic problem in the catering of future doctors. Taking into account the data of this study, it is possible to formulate a number of proposals for improving the nutrition of students: control of products sold in universities with the rejection of fast food products, the introduction of sugar-free dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables into the assortment of buffets and canteens, as well as the formation of complex lunches according to the “healthy plate” principle to increase the capacity of catering places.
