Stress among academicians and its association to high energy food consumption

Abstract

Introduction: The stress which arises as a response to the demands in the academic contexts has been related to alterations on the food consumption patterns and subsequent increase in the risk of developing overweight.

Objective: To analyze the association between the level of academic stress and the consumption of high energy foods among graduate students at a public university.

Methodology: This is an analytical, observational, and transversal study with a convenient sample of students (n= 15). Inclusion criteria were male or female, 20 to 50 years old, and enrolled in a Master's program. Pregnant women were excluded. The level of academic stress was estimated with the SISCO inventory. Feeding patterns were assessed every 24 hours. The Mann-Whitney U-Test and Spearman tests were calculated.

Results: 73.3 % of the students showed a moderate level of academic stress. No differences between the academic stress level and nutrition patterns were found. However, there was a direct relationship between the level of stress and the consumption of vitamin B6 (r= 0.467, p= 0.041) and pantothenic acid (r= 0.517, p= 0.029).

Discussion and Conclusions: There is controversy regarding the relationship between alimentary habits and academic stress. In this study, no association between academic stress and high energy foods consumption was found; nevertheless, a link between this kind of stress and the consumption of vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid was. Further research is suggested on the topic of possible relationships between health professionals under academic stress and their high energy consumption habits.