Resumen de Brief intervention on the consumption of fruits and vegetables and physical activity in university students.
Clara Helena González Correa, Aida María González Correa, Diana María Muñoz Perez, Carmen Dussan Lubert
Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) hasestimated that up to 2.7 million lives could be saved annuallyif enough fruits and vegetables were consumed. Regularphysical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of variousdiseases and help with energy balance and weight control.For university students it is complex to follow healthy guide-lines such as the consumption of fruits and vegetables andthe realization of physical activity due to the lack of time tocook and academic commitments. Objective: To determine the nutritional status and physi-cal activity of university students before and after an educa-tional intervention with WHO recommendations. Materials and methods: A prospective longitudinal studyin which 70 university students were evaluated. The inter-vention consisted of an individualized educational talk. Thenutritional status was evaluated by means of a survey on theconsumption of fruits and vegetables and anthropometricmeasurements and physical condition by recording the timeof habitual physical activity per week and the Harvard steptest. The data were analyzed using the statistical software XL-STAT version 2014.3.07. Results and discussion: The intervention had a positiveeffect on healthy lifestyle habits, increasing the percentage ofcompliance with the physical activity recommendations, 16%in men and 9% in women. In addition, the intake of fruits andvegetables increased by 14% and 12%, respectively. Conclusions: These improvements provide a basis for de-signing and implementing strategies that increase the per-centage of adherence to healthy lifestyle habits through low-cost and easy-to-adopt interventions
